Contributor

David Bergstein

Financier/CEO, Cyrano Group

David Bergstein is a financier who specializes in locating, securing financing for, and restructuring companies which are undervalued, distressed, and have complicating or litigious factors in their history. He is known for his talent in accurately predicting trends and recognizing opportunities to restore and reposition businesses, and has experience in numerous fields including: Internet, medical, distribution, biomedical, film and many more, Bergstein is a leading expert in the field of financing. Bergstein is also an investment banker and entrepreneur, having purchased and grown several companies such as De Lane Lea, a formerly insolvent London post-production facility which he turned into a thriving and profitable enterprise in less than five years, eventually selling it to Warner Bros. Born August 9, 1962 in New York City, Bergstein grew up with an incredibly influential father, a Holocaust survivor who overcame great adversity in his life. His father became a renowned engineer, patenting inventions such as the Zoom lens and pioneering research which formed the basis for the fiber optics industry. After graduating high school early, Bergstein attended the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (now NYU) where his father was a professor of engineering. During his time at Polytechnic, Bergstein earned a B.S. in pre-med with a math minor, and then attended law school at Cardozo University. While in law school he worked at Solomon Brothers under Joseph Stechler, and later as a research analyst at Bear Sterns, spending the majority of his time locating, analyzing and reporting on undervalued situations. In 1984, Bergstein moved to California where he began buying and selling real estate, eventually progressing into real estate development. He enjoyed remarkable economic success during this period, and further developed his exceptional ability to identify assets with latent potential for growth. Around the time of the housing market collapse, Bergstein switched gears and began applying his transactional skill set to the business world. Bergstein then acquired a company in the Garment District in Downtown Los Angeles. He revitalized the company back to profitability and sold it within a year, marking the beginning of his success as a financier. Bergstein is the CEO of Cyrano Group Inc. Gyrano Group frequently invests the majority of capital required for its transactions, and is capable of acting as both an effective broker and in a consulting capacity, providing specific services which may be unrelated to capital investment. As company CEO for the past 20 years, Bergstein has handled a wide array of transactions, spanning many fields and ranging in size from $5 to $1.5 billion. Bergstein founded the Leonard and Sarah Bergstein Learning Center at the Conejo Jewish Academy, in honor of his parents. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Sherriff’s Youth Foundation of Los Angeles County, an organization dedicated to offering homeless and disadvantaged youth safe facilities and resources. Bergstein also serves on the board at the Grossman Burn Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting effective solutions for comprehensive treatment, care, financial aid and support of burn survivors and their families. Bergstein is a featured contributor for The Huffington Post, The Times of Israel and The Algemeiner online newspaper.