Jeff Bartel

Jeff Bartel is chairman and managing director of Hamptons Group, LLC, a premier privately held alternative investment and strategic advisory firm headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida—with investments, projects, and clients across multiple sectors and industries in the United States and worldwide. Hamptons Group’s business segments focus on private equity, venture and growth capital, credit, and impact investing in various sectors for small and lower middle-market companies; real estate investment, finance, asset management, and ancillary brokerage across commercial property types; and strategic advisory services in corporate strategy and growth, leadership and management performance, business development and market strategy, public affairs and issue management, land use and real estate development consultancy, government and regulatory strategy, and alternative energy, utilities, and infrastructure initiatives. Hamptons Group invests in people, places, projects, and positions that are consistent with social responsibility, sustainability and environmental stewardship, corporate best practices, good government and public integrity, and ethical investment principles. Since Mr. Bartel founded the firm in 2011, the Hamptons Group team has worked globally with over 500 corporate, government, and institutional entities, managed over 250 investments, transactions, and projects across numerous sectors and industries, and created more than $8 billion in value for partners, investors, and clients.

Mr. Bartel is also a visiting lecturer and senior advisor on leadership, start-ups, and social enterprise at Harvard University, where he teaches and mentors undergraduate and graduate students, has helped design and develop the groundbreaking Lemann Program on Creativity and Entrepreneurship and serves as a founding member of its board. In addition, he is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida College of Law and a lecturer at Duke University and the University of Miami Business School, where he teaches graduate students about business, life design, and career strategy. Mr. Bartel is also on the senior faculty and leadership council of Aspire Leaders Institute, providing leadership development to underserved young adults worldwide in 180 countries.

Prior to Hamptons Group, he served as a senior executive and corporate officer at Fortune 200^® public companies in the energy and utility sectors and, before that, was a partner at two of Florida’s oldest and largest law firms heading their land use, zoning, and public law practices. Mr. Bartel began his career in appointive government service as the top aide to the mayor of Miami and then as chief of staff in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., where he was the youngest chief of staff in the history of the United States Congress at the time. Mr. Bartel continues to serve as an informal advisor and trusted counselor to numerous federal, state, and local public officials.

A devoted philanthropist and active supporter of the arts, education, and children’s health causes at the local, state, and national levels, Mr. Bartel has chaired and served on the boards of some of Florida’s most impactful business, social service, educational, and cultural organizations and institutions. These include the Forbes Finance Council, the Strategic Forum of New York and South Florida, United Way, the Florida and Greater Miami Chambers of Commerce, the Orange Bowl Committee, the Super Bowl Host Committee, and Leadership Florida—where he brought U.S. presidential debates to Florida for the first time. Across industry, academia, law, government, and philanthropy, he has been honored by dozens of business alliances, community organizations, universities, and governmental bodies for his impactful leadership, charity, service, social responsibility, and ethics, including the South Florida Business & Wealth Magazine Apogee Award for Executive Excellence, the Harvard Outstanding Alumni Leadership Award, the University of Florida Law School Outstanding Alumnus Award, Miami-Dade Beacon Council Financial Services Company of the Year, Twelve Good Men in South Florida, Thurgood Marshall College Fund Distinguished Leader Award, March of Dimes Humanitarian of the Year, and the first-ever recipient of the Florida Ethics in Leadership Award. He is a highly sought-after thought leader, frequent speaker, and panelist before corporate, chamber, business trade, and university audiences and forums. Mr. Bartel has been profiled and featured as a subject expert, contributor, and opinion writer in dozens of media publications and articles, including The New York Times, Forbes, Miami Herald, The Business Journals, NASDAQ News, Daily Business Review, South Florida Business Journal, and Miami Today. His business and life strategy book, The Business of Life, is expected to be published in 2024.

Mr. Bartel is recognized as an inspiring, dynamic, and results-proven venture capitalist, trusted advisor, thought leader, and humanitarian, with documented success in building strong financial, human, and social capital value, transforming companies, organizations, and teams, and driving policy and execution to achieve exceptional returns and results, exceed stakeholder expectations, and build positive community outcomes. He holds a bachelor’s degree cum laude in government with a secondary field in music from Harvard University. He was named a Harvard College Scholar for outstanding academic achievement, played football, and was a leader in numerous service, music, and political student organizations. Mr. Bartel holds a law degree magna cum laude from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he won numerous book awards, was the recipient of the Darrey A. Davis Scholarship for academic excellence, public service, and commitment to ethics, and was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame as well as the Florida Blue Key honor society. He also is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s program for senior executives and the Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation.