Roderick Hardamon

Roderick A. Hardamon, a Detroit native, is the Founder and Chairman of the URGE Development Group, a real estate development and business innovation firm based in Detroit, MI.  Mr. Hardamon leverages his twenty years of experience in strategy, business innovation, mergers and acquisitions, and operational transformation to enhance and accelerate each development and business he engages.

Formerly, Mr. Hardamon was the North America Head for Citi Alternative Investment Services with over $300B in assets under administration, which he was instrumental in selling to SS&C Technologies. In this role, he leads an organization of over 2,000 professionals serving 100+ clients spanning eight locations across the United States, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Bahamas, and India.

Previously, Mr. Hardamon served as Global Co-Head of Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) for Citi Markets & Banking.  He managed a team that identified and evaluated geographic and product market expansion opportunities that augmented corporate strategy.  With a global focus, Mr. Hardamon has been involved in excess of $10 billion in transactions in over a dozen countries including the United States, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, Brazil, South Korea, China and India. 

Mr. Hardamon began his career at Salomon Brothers including stints in mergers and acquisitions, high grade / leverage loan finance in New York, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Tokyo

Because of his sincere interest in service and dedication to excellence, Hardamon has served on the boards of a variety boards of nonprofits including: The Council of Urban Professionals (Board Vice Chair); Millennium Dance Company (Board Chair, former); the New York Leadership Council for UNCF (past); and as a founding member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for Morehouse College and a former member of the college’s Renaissance Commission.  He volunteers considerably in his hometown including volunteering with a local Cub Scout Pack and previously coaching the Academic Games Team at Bates Academy for which he was honored with the Robert Allen Award for Distinguished Service by the Michigan League of Academic Games.

As an in-demand distinguished speaker, Mr. Hardamon has been a visiting speaker and panelist at Harvard Business School, the University of Michigan, Morehouse College, Howard University, Columbia Business School, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the National Urban League, the Urban Financial Services Coalition, NASP, the Charles H. Wright Museum, and numerous other institutions and civic organizations. His book, Trying to Get There: Navigating Your Success, is inspired by these numerous speaking engagements and mentoring conversations over the years.

Due to his dedication to excellence and civic service, he has been honored as one of the Men of Excellence by the Michigan Chronicle, The Network Journal’s 40 Under Forty and as one of the YMCA’s Achievers in Industry.

Hardamon is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College with Bachelor’s Degrees in Accounting & Philosophy. He is joined in life by his wife Kaili Hardamon and their children Roderick Jr. (RJ) and Ella Monroe.