Director
Kami was born in down town Tehran, but was brought up in suburban Torquay. Whilst his academic qualifications are in business and economics, his other “education” came on the UK’s sporting fields and halls.
As an immigrant to the UK, sport was a place where he grew as an individual and found his place in the community. Now as a father of two teenagers, he sees the vital role sport plays in their development; and with an active mother in her 80s, he can see that recreation is essential to her well-being, too.
Over the last 25 years Kami has run his own consultancy, working with decision makers in global organisations on matters of purpose and culture. The firm won a Queen’s Award for International Trade and worked with organisations like HSBC, Novartis, UNICEF, London 2012 and the UN.
More recently Kami co-founded the Institute for the Development of Young Minds in Sport (IDYOMS). This is an initiative spun out from research, conducted at the University of Bristol, using the latest knowledge on the adolescent brain to reimagine how young people are developed through sport.
Kami fulfils his interest in community building by being a Patron of the charity Cleanup UK, which encourages neighbours to come together to look after their local environment. Alongside sport, Kami has a passion for the arts. So as Chair of Cardiff’s renowned arts venue Chapter, he is able to support the development of contemporary artists in Cardiff, Wales and beyond.
Alongside his commercial and charity work, Kami is an associate for three university research institutes (two in the UK and one in Switzerland).
Whilst he always considered himself to be reasonably competent at most sports, his confidence was dented when he lost at table tennis to his son who at the time was only 11 years old and playing with his weaker left hand!
