Mr. Najarian is the Director of Research at Hovde Group, responsible for equity research coverage of the US Banking Sector and managing the Hovde research team. He joined Hovde Group in June 2026. Mr. Najarian began his career at CS First Boston in 1992 and has over 25 years of sell-side research experience. He previously headed the Bank Research teams at First Union Securities, Merrill Lynch, and ISI LLC. At Merrill Lynch, he was an Extel-Ranked mid-cap bank analyst in 2004 and large-cap bank analyst from 2007-08 and was widely recognized for guiding clients away from bank stocks prior to the Great Recession.  At ISI, he was an Extel-Ranked large-cap bank analyst from 2010-13.

Mr. Najarian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Duke University and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He currently resides in New York with his wife and son.