Raheem J. Brennerman
Raheem Jefferson Brennerman (also known as Raheem Jefferson Soe-Tan Jr. Brennerman) is an oil and real estate business magnate, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He currently serves as the Chairman for RJB Capital, and its core businesses, The Blacksands Pacific Group, BSP Technologies and BLV Group Corporation. He is also the Chair & Co-Trustee for Brennerman Family Foundation Trust and the principal of Brennerman Family Holdings and The House of Brennerman Holdings. [1]
Born in 1978, Brennerman grew-up living in New York city and then in both London and Switzerland. Brennerman`s father was an American businessman but he was primarily raised by his mother, an international businesswoman, a diamond broker and textile trader. His step-father, an American banker and businessman of Nigerian descent, also partly raised him and introduced him to the oil trading business on the African continent. [2] Brennerman was admitted at the age of sixteen to one of Europe's most prestigious colleges at the University of London, where he earned his Bachelors degree with honors in Economics at the top of his class and later achieved a Master's degree from Columbia University. [3] He started his career in Investment Banking at J. P. Morgan Chase & Co with focus on mergers and acquisition in the U.S. and European markets. [2]
In 2004 Brennerman founded BLV Group Corporation (a real estate and lifestyle company) and in April 2010 founded an oil and gas company, Blacksands Pacific Group, one of only three black owned energy business in the United States. On leaving J. P. Morgan Chase & Co and prior to establishing his businesses, Brennerman worked for the family energy business, which was started by his paternal grandfather in Louisiana. [4] Brennerman also managed the family-owned real estate business and investments, established by his maternal grandparents.
As a young man, Brennerman briefly adopted his step-father`s name for eight years and in 2002, he legally changed his name back to his birth name, Raheem Jefferson Brennerman. In 2012, the United Kingdom passport agency incorrectly issued him a renewal passport in the incorrect order of forenames, Jefferson Raheem Brennerman instead of Raheem Jefferson Brennerman.
Brennerman is an avid supporter of education, sponsoring aspiring and talented young students. He is also interested in fighting for equal protection and civil rights and liberties. Through his non-profit endeavors among other things, he has sponsored students from other parts of the world to the United States to further their education.
In 2004, Brennerman founded BLV Group Corporation, a real estate investment, management and development company which was previously based in New York with assets in Europe, Africa and Asia. The company focuses primarily on luxury condominiums, ultra luxury lifestyle hotels and spas and digital real estate. Under the essenza style brand, it provides lifestyle services from bespoke interior design to dedicated concierge services and more.[5][6]
