Sam Garvin Bio

Sam Garvin, who launched his own mail-in rebate and consumer promotions company at age 25, has served as vice chairman of the Suns after purchasing interest in the club in June 2004.

The self-made entrepreneur founded Scottsdale-based Continental Promotion Group in 1989 and its business grew to over $1 billion in annual gross revenues and attracted over 500 blue-chip marketers worldwide. After a short stint at a promotion fulfillment firm, he started CPG from the trunk of his car, borrowing from credit cards for seed money. As chairman and chief executive officer from 1989-2005, he managed over 1,200 associates, and organized and executed consumer and trade promotions for Dell, Nestle, Henkel, Costco, BT (British Telecom), HP, Motorola, Disney and Eli Lilly on a global scale.

Garvin, who sold CPG in June 2005, took on additional responsibilities with the Suns shortly thereafter. A Suns fan since 1989, Garvin purchased single-game tickets in the upper bowl when the team played at Veterans Memorial Coliseum and has attended Suns games for the last 18 years. In July 2007, he was appointed an alternate NBA Governor to represent the organization.

Prior to CPG, Garvin served in the Ronald Reagan administration as a staff assistant on the Presidential Commission for the German-American Tri-Centennial. He then went to work for Heinz U.S.A. as a sales merchandiser where he learned the marketing of packaged goods from the ground up. In 1988, he graduated from Thunderbird, one of the top business schools in the country, with a masters of international management specializing in marketing. In 2003, he was awarded a doctor of international law degree, honoris causa, from Thunderbird.