From Big Cat to Cool Cat: Laid Back Billionaire Bidder Ben Navarro

CHARLESTON, S.C. – People who know him will tell you Ben Navarro is laid back. Smiles easily. Is unassuming. Often wears shorts and flip flops, even to meetings. Former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley uses every superlative he can think of to praise Navarro: amazing. Nice. Humble. Honest. Generous. Riley says he also admires Jerry Richardson, and has since Richardson’s days as a Wofford football player. The fit, he says, would be wonderful. Riley says, “Ben Navarro, he has the same kind of instincts and attributes that I think would be a logical person to hand the baton to.”

Property records show Navarro’s family owns homes on some of Charleston’s poshest streets. He also owns LTP Tennis Club in nearby Mt. Pleasant. Sports run in the family: he and his wife Kelly have four kids; his eldest daughter is a star tennis player. His father was a college football coach.

Navarro, who has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Rhode Island, is the founder and CEO of global financial services company Sherman Financial Group, named after his childhood yellow lab, with offices inside a Meeting Street building. Rumblings of supposed concern from NFL owners about Navarro’s smaller dealings in debt acquisition, Riley scoffs at. “They have absolutely no merit. He runs an honorable business, it’s a business that’s important to our country, he’s one of the finest people I know,” he says.

Finances may be where Ben Navarro made a name for himself, but education is his passion. He founded and funded Meeting Street Academy schools to serve traditionally underserved communities, first, a location in downtown Charleston, and then two others.

“He’s part of the reason why I came to Meeting Street, is because he inspires me so much with his passion and his dedication for this work,” says Sarah Campbell. She is the Principal at Meeting Street Elementary @ Brentwood. Campbell had no idea her laid back boss, who regularly hosts principals for dinners (last time it was pasta), wanted to buy the Panthers. “Yes, I read about it in the paper, like everybody else,” she laughs.

Panthers employees, she says, would get this type of leadership from the man she calls Ben, not Mr. Navarro: “He gives you a ton of space to do the work you need to do, he doesn’t micromanage, and he has a ton of faith in his people.”

Any day now, Jerry Richardson could announce the next owner of the Panthers. It’s reportedly down to Navarro, David Tepper, a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and an unknown bidder. The owners’ vote then comes in May.