Garen and his wife, Shari, are Co-Founders and Board members of One Mind (“OM”) (formerly the International Mental Health Research Organization), a 501c(3) non-profit organization. During the last twenty six years, OM and the Music Festival for Brain Health event have raised almost $500 million for mental health charities and research. Launched in 2011 with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy and now led by President, Brandon Staglin, One Mind is pursuing a number of large scale public private partnerships in Schizophrenia, TBI and PTS as well as funding cutting edge research with 38 rising star scientists. One Mind is also privileged to be served by a strong and engaged Board of Directors, a dedicated Scientific Advisory Board and to have Pete Chiarelli, U.S. Army General (retired) serve as an Ambassador (See the full One Mind team).
Garen is also Co-Chairman of the Healthy Brains Global Initiative founded in 2018 is an umbrella set of financing mechanisms developed by global leaders in neuroscience, policy, and finance to fuel an unprecedented increase in brain science breakthroughs, from basic research to implementation, that will change the lives of those living with mental and neurological disorders and bend the unsustainable $3 trillion global cost curve borne today by low, middle, and high income countries.
Garen is a private equity investor and philanthropist with more than 40 years of experience in building and starting companies in the financial services and payment industries. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Silicon Valley Bank, ExL Services, and Profit Velocity Solutions. He is also a Senior Advisor to FTV Capital. Garen is a graduate of UCLA, B.S.-Engineering (1966), and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, MBA (1968). He is a recipient of the Gold Spike Award, Stanford University’s highest award for volunteer service and the UCLA College of Letters & Science Fellows Award. He was Co-Chairman of the UCLA Centennial Capital Campaign which set a record for a public university raising $5.48 Billion.
He and Shari, and their children, Brandon and Shannon, are founders of the STAGLIN FAMILY VINEYARD, a 70 acre estate in Rutherford, California.