Rafael Pastor

Rafael Pastor has an extensive and diversified track record in both running successful businesses and advising business leaders. His career has spanned the media/entertainment, education, and business/financial services sectors.

Currently serving on a variety of Boards and as an Advisor, Rafael is dedicated to helping organizations harmonize strategy (growth), execution (people), and culture (values). He serves on the Boards of KinderCare Education, Rosetta Books, and Assurance, as well as on the Advisory Boards of Julius, Thuzio, and MD Revolution.

Rafael also serves as an Advisor to a major international private equity firm, to Vistage International, and to Sonenshine Partners. He is also Chairman of the International Advisory Board of UCSD’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. He is also a member of the Board of the La Jolla Music Society; the Advisory Board of the Rady School of Management at UCSD; the Board of the National Association of Corporate Directors (Southern California Chapter); and the Strategic Roundtable of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation.

Most recently, he was Chairman of the Board and CEO of Vistage International, the world’s largest for-profit CEO membership company. Previously, based in New York, Rafael held senior executive positions at global media companies as: CEO of Hoyts Cinemas Corporation; President of USA Networks International; Executive Vice President, International, of News Corporation and Fox Television International; and President of CBS/Fox Video International.

Subsequently, he was co-Founder and co-Chairman of the Sonenshine Pastor (now Sonenshine Partners) investment-banking and venture-capital firm in New York City. Rafael started his career as an attorney, first at the Wall Street law firm of Hawkins, Delafield and Wood and then as Associate General Counsel at CBS Inc. He earned a BA from Columbia University and a JD from NYU School of Law. He was born in Israel to Hungarian parents and speaks several languages.