About Us

Sam arrived in Detroit when he was 9, fleeing persecution as an Armenian Catholic in Iraq with his parents and four siblings. He developed a strong work ethic at an early age assisting his father, Ramzi, pumping gas at a station on Six Mile and Hoover, in addition to delivering newspapers, cutting lawns and shoveling snow.

In 1985, he launched Atlas Oil Co. in Taylor, MI with a single delivery truck, and has built it into a multi billion gallon-a-year fuel wholesaler with over 500 employees. Today, Simon still owns and remains involved in the company’s day to day operations.

With the success of Atlas Oil, Simon formed Simon Group Holdings, an investment manager with multiple office locations in Birmingham, MI. The company is actively involved in numerous industries, including gas, oil and renewable energy, real estate, aerospace and defense, insurance, wine and sports entertainment.

Simon has been honored with many recognitions for his success in business, including: “Entrepreneur of the Year” from Ernst & Young (1999), “Economic Bridge Builder of the Year” from the American Arab Chamber of Commerce (2016), “Visionaries of Detroit” from Fortune Magazine (2010), “Outstanding Business Leader” from Northwood University (2018), Bates Street Society Pillar award for Business Success and Philanthropic contributions (2023) and was previously appointed to the National Petroleum Council by Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham. He is also recognized annually as one of the top business leaders in Metro Detroit by DBusiness Magazine, and was featured in Crain’s Detroit’s American Dreams issue, which honors immigrant entrepreneurs who have made strides in our community (2018).

More importantly than his business success, Simon and his wife, Nada, are committed to paying forward their good fortune to help others. In 2009, he and Nada founded the Sam & Nada Simon Foundation. The Foundation is focused on providing direct support to their local communities, including an emphasis on active-duty military personnel, veterans, local law enforcement, immigrant families, and supporting deserving youth with academic scholarships and leadership development opportunities in the communities that the Simon family live and work in. Their signature event is an annual Christmas party at the Selfridge Air Force Base to celebrate local service families for selflessly serving our country. Outside of work and philanthropy, Sam and Nada enjoy spending as much time possible with their twin boys, Peter and Michael, and take every opportunity to gather their extended family.  

Peter has had a deep love for sports since he was a little kid and played different sports growing up, as well as manage his high school sports teams, including the mens soccer team that won a State Championship. He graduated from the Mike Illitch School of Business with a sports management degree, and now leads Simon Sports as it’s President. Peter’s day to day involves oversight of the current portfolio, and deal flow evaluation/investment sourcing. 

Formed in 2022, Simon Sports is a sports investment firm and management group that serves as an umbrella for Sam and his son Peter Simon’s sports ventures. Simon Sports has two divisions, Operations and Investments. The Operations division is focused on sports teams, and provides day-to-day support of the company’s management of franchises and teams owned by the company. The investment division identifies and contributes to cutting edge technologies and emerging developments across the sports industry, including new sports technology, equipment, mobile applications, media and sports drinks. Peter’s roots and foundation starts with a strong culture, being people oriented, collaborating in a team, doing the right thing, and living a humble lifestyle.

He loves spending time with family in his free time, traveling the world to see different countries, and of course, watching sports.

Shane’s role is to work with the management of the teams within the Simon Sports portfolio on creation and execution of long term strategy/plans; as well as using data and analytics to better inform decision making. Shane was previously employed at SMT (Sports, Media, and Technology group) and led their player/puck tracking collection and collaboration with NHL teams. In this role, Shane led the analysis of data for NHL teams and consulted with them on decisions, which included free agency acquisitions, trades, contract signings and drafting, among other iniatives. Shane is an attorney who received his JD law degree from the University of Windsor, and masters degrees in sports management and sports law from Columbia University. Shane is a frequent contributor to TSN, the Fourth Period, and the NHL Network.