Kane Sarhan
Kane Sarhan is the CoFounder & CCO of THE WELL — your one-stop shop for wellness, focusing on whole-person care. Prior to THE WELL, Kane has spent the last fifteen years working across a variety of industries. Be it in education, hospitality, technology or finance, one thing has remained consistent— Kane likes to tackle big problems with innovative and disruptive solutions that challenge the status quo, win awards and accolades and define industries and markets.
Kane began his career working as an apprentice to entrepreneurs in the hospitality and technology space. As a waiter, he convinced Jacqui Squatriglia, hospitality entrepreneur and owner of Coyote Ugly and Flaming Saddles Saloon to take him on and teach him the ropes. Kane traveled the country with Jacqui, supporting her many businesses in much more than an administrative role — leading projects in marketing and fundraising at the age of 22. Jacqui also inspired Kane to start his own magazine, a NYC college gossip rag that had two Issues, one that
landed on the cover of The New York Post and another that partnered with a reality TV star: Kim Kardashian.
His short-term career in publishing led him to Nihal Mehta and Reshma Saujani, two entrepreneurs and innovators who needed a helping hand. Over four years, Kane was instrumental in supporting their lives and career, helping Nihal launch LocalResponse (AdTech, backed by Greycroft and Verizon Ventures) and ENIAC Ventures ($150MM seed investment fund) and support Reshma as she became the first Indian American woman to run for US Congress and launched the national non-profit Girls Who Code. Kane was promoted to Creative Director at LocalResponse, leading design and creative for the company while personally selling over $5MM in business to clients like Kraft, Walgreens and Coca Cola.
Kane’s experience with Jacqui, Nihal and Reshma led him to found (alongside cofounder Shaila Ittycheria) Enstitute, a non-profit organization. During the height of youth unemployment in 2010, Enstitute offered the first national apprenticeship program at companies like Foursquare, Warby Parker, Bit.ly, Thrillist and more. Kane’s work earned him a spot on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, the prestigious Echoing Green and Francis Hesselbein Institute Next Leadership of the Future fellowships. The program scaled to four US cities and Ireland, serving hundreds of students while being featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company, PBS and other publications. The program has since closed, but lives on through
research conducted with The Kauffman Foundation and as the founding curriculum for two university programs.
Coming full circle, Kane returned to hospitality, working for Barry Sternlicht as Head of Brand of SH Group, Starwood Capital Group’s hotel brand management company that oversees the development and management of the firm’s two luxury lifestyle hotel and residence brands, 1 Hotels & Homes and Baccarat Hotels & Residences. In this role, Kane was responsible for leading the development of the brand, positioning, ethos marketing and digital channels. Launching over $1BB in assets to monumental success, Kane drove each Hotel to quickly become the leader of their comp sets, driving record sales and winning national and global
awards across Travel & Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Hospitality Design and countless others. Four years later, the entrepreneurial bug bit again and Kane left to start THE WELL as CoFounder and Chief Creative Officer, overseeing all design, marketing and expansion. With the support of Barry Sternlicht, Richard Lefrak, Jim Pallotta, actors Will Smith and Priyanka Chopra, along with Venture Capital fund New Enterprise Associates, THE WELL launched its first urban holistic health and wellness center in the heart of New York City in September 2019. Since launch, THE WELL has opened three more locations — THE WELL at Mayflower Inn, THE WELL at Hacienda AltaGracia and THE WELL at Dune Deck — and developed proprietary
products from doctor-developed vitamins to therapeutic essential oil-based Self-Care products. Kane is a sought after speaker and commentator — keynoting and paneling at conferences and gatherings around the world. In his free time, he loves to hike with his dog, Zady and do DIY home renovations with his fiancé, Daniel.
