Nathaniel ("Nat") Zilkha (born September 10th, 1975 ) is an American businessman. He is the Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Firebird Music Holdings and the Chairman of Gibson,[1] the famed American guitar manufacturer. He is also a former Partner at KKR, where he held senior investing and leadership roles and sat on various investment committees and KKR's senior leadership committee.[2]
Nat is also a former touring and session musician who played at the Newport Folk Festival in 2008 with his band Red Rooster, which put out 3 studio albums.
Early life and education
Zilkha is the son of Daniel and Frances Zilkha. He was raised in Portland, Maine. He is of Iraqi descent on his father's side.[3] Zilkha went to Phillips Academy, Andover for preparatory school from 1990-1994. He received an AB in Politics from Princeton University in 1999, where he graduated Cum Laude.[4] He also spent a summer semester at Berklee College of Music in 1996.[5]
Career
Zilkha started his career in 1999 in the Principal Investment Area of Goldman Sachs, focused on private equity investing. He ultimately ran the healthcare investing efforts for the firm, rising to Vice President in 2006.[6]
Zilkha joined KKR in 2007, where he became a Partner in 2012.[7]
From 2013 - 2020, Zilkha led or co-led KKR Credit business, during which time assets under management grew from $13 billion to over $80 billion. He also co-founded KKR's Special Situations and Opportunistic strategy and oversaw KKR's Public Equity investing.[8]
Zilkha also led KKR's efforts in investing in the music industry, leading the firm's purchase of Gibson as well as over $1.5 billion in purchases of music royalties.[9][10]
Zilkha partnered with college roommate Nathan Hubbard in 2021, to start Firebird Music Holdings, a music company that provides career and brand guidance to artists.[11] The company's investors include The Raine Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs Asset Management and includes artists such as Maggie Rogers, Chris Stapleton, Mumford & Sons, Dave Matthews Band, Phish and Leon Bridges.[12] In 2023, Firebird partnered with TikTok stars the D'Amelio's DamGood Mgmt.[13]
In a personal capacity he led a $50 million funding round for TVG Hospitality, an owner and operator of music venues founded by Ben Lovett, a member of the band Mumford & Sons.[14]
He has served on the board of directors of a number of public and private companies, including Amedisys (AMED), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Oriental Brewery (purchased by ABInBev), Harden Healthcare (purchased by Gentiva) and Cengage Learning.[15]
Non Profit Work
Zilkha serves as a member of the board of directors of Save The Music (Executive Committee),[16] The Apollo Theater,[17] Gibson Gives,[18] Aspen Country Day School (Executive Committee),[19] and Jazz Aspen Snowmass.[20] He formerly sat on the boards of the Mt Sinai Children's Center Foundation,[21] The Birch Wathen Lenox School,[22]and the Lower East Girls Club.[23]
Personal Life
In 2004, he married Sara Holt. Sara is a cofounder of Salt + Snow, a lifestyle brand geared toward skiing and surfing aficionados. Nat has lived in Colorado since 2019 with his wife Sara, their five children and three dogs.[24]