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 Jonathan Bean has built a career around **alternative asset management** and **institutional investing**, including co-founding platforms that provide capital to major insurers and early event-driven strategies. Jonathan Bean’s professional journey in finance spans more than three decades and is marked by a steady commitment to creating high-quality, institutional-grade investment platforms. His work in alternative asset management has consistently focused on thoughtful diversification, rigorous analysis, and strategies designed to deliver sustainable results over long time horizons. Bean began developing his expertise in alternatives during his tenure as a Director at Allen & Company LLC, where he worked on private capital strategies and complex transactions. That experience gave him a strong foundation in understanding how capital can be deployed effectively outside public markets, setting the stage for his later entrepreneurial efforts. In the early 2000s, Bean co-founded H...

  There's a particular kind of visionary who doesn't wait for the spotlight to find their city — they wire the lights themselves. For Houston, that visionary is Omar Afra. Afra's path to becoming one of Houston's most influential cultural figures began thousands of miles away. His family escaped the Lebanese Civil War when he was a toddler, eventually settling in Houston's sprawling, humid landscape. It was an unlikely launchpad for a cultural revolution, but Afra saw something in the city that others overlooked: raw, untapped creative energy in every direction, and almost no infrastructure to channel it. He started building that infrastructure in 2003 with Free Press Houston . Founded as a direct response to the Iraq War, the independent publication quickly became much more than a political outlet. It evolved into Houston's essential guide to underground music, local art, and the neighborhoods — especially Montrose — where the city's most interesting peop...

 Been diving deep into healthcare trends lately and discovered something fascinating: executive concierge medicine is quietly becoming one of the fastest-growing medical specialties in the country. What started as boutique services for ultra-wealthy individuals has evolved into a legitimate medical field addressing real performance gaps that standard healthcare completely misses. Dr. Wallace Brucker in Las Vegas has been at the forefront of this movement, and his background helps explain why this specialty is gaining serious traction among high-performing professionals. The Numbers Behind the Growth The concierge medicine market is growing at roughly 20% annually, but the executive-focused subspecialty is expanding even faster. Industry analysts project the market will reach $40 billion by 2030, driven primarily by recognition that traditional healthcare fails to address the unique demands of high-stress professional roles. What's driving this isn't vanity or luxury healthc...

 This is going to sound dramatic, but bear with me. A close friend of mine nearly lost his company because his doctor kept telling him he was perfectly healthy while he was experiencing what I now know was severe cognitive decline. Two years ago, Mike was running a successful tech startup he'd built from nothing. Sharp guy, always three steps ahead in conversations, incredible strategic thinker. But over about 18 months, I watched him change. He started seeming scattered in meetings. Would lose his train of thought mid-sentence. Began making uncharacteristically poor decisions that cost the company major contracts. The worst part? Every time he went to his doctor concerned about fatigue, brain fog, and feeling like he was "losing his edge," he was told his bloodwork looked great and maybe he should take a vacation. Long story short, he nearly had to sell the company at a massive loss before someone mentioned something called "executive medicine" or "long...

  Nobody handed Omar Afra a music festival. Nobody handed him a newspaper, a stage, or a seat at the table. Everything he built in Houston started the same way his family's American story started — from zero, with grit, in a city generous enough to let a kid from nowhere become somebody. Omar was born in Beirut in 1978. By the time he was two, his family had fled the Lebanese Civil War and settled in Houston. His father picked the city for one practical reason: the University of Houston, where he could study engineering. Between classes, he worked the line at Burger King. Three kids. No safety net. Just the belief that Houston would give them a fair shot. It did. Omar grew up on the southwest side, in a house where the stereo never stopped. Fairuz — the legendary Lebanese singer whose voice could quiet a room — competed for airtime with Julio Iglesias. Music wasn't a hobby in the Afra household. It was the atmosphere. And when Omar's father brought the family to the Westh...

  Why High-Performing Executives Are Secretly Struggling with "Normal" Test Results Something strange is happening among successful executives, and standard medicine has no explanation for it. They're reporting the same cluster of symptoms: afternoon brain fog that forces them to reschedule important calls, inconsistent energy that makes planning around biology instead of priorities, decision fatigue that hits earlier each year, and the nagging sense that their cognitive edge isn't as sharp as it used to be. When they bring these concerns to their doctors, they're told their bloodwork looks "completely normal" and maybe they should try getting more sleep or reducing stress. Many end up feeling like they're either imagining things or just getting old. After diving deep into this topic, I've learned these executives aren't crazy, and they're not just aging normally. They're experiencing the early stages of biological decline that st...