Meet Us

TIGER 21 was founded in 1999 by Michael Sonnenfeldt and co-founder Richard Lavin. At the time, Michael had recently sold his interests in Emmes and Company, a billion dollar private real estate firm and was a member of TEC, a CEO learning group. Richard was the professional chair of Michael’s TEC group. Michael and Richard shared the belief that there was a need within the high-net-worth community for a setting where ideas and concerns could be shared in an open, confidential and mutually supportive setting. From this idea, TIGER 21 was born.

TIGER 21’s first group was comprised entirely of former entrepreneurs who had recently sold their businesses. In time, as word of TIGER 21 spread, other business leaders—senior executives in Fortune 100 corporations, former partners of Wall Street investment houses—were intrigued by the concept and approached Michael and Richard.  In twelve years, TIGER 21 has grown to 17 carefully-selected groups of extraordinary men and women.