Chief Investment Officer & General Counsel, Bright Enterprises
by Kensie Westerfield
Family has always been important to Darren Campf and it encompasses nearly everything he does—ranging from the item he chose to be photographed with to the people that have helped shape who he is and make him the successful man he is today.
Campf chose to be photographed with a red, twin-seat jogging stroller. “The stroller is special to me because it seats our two-year-old twins, our son Amos and our daughter Daisy. My wife Anne and I like to take it out on weekends, usually running about four miles, and have entered the family in a couple of 5K races. Our best time with the stroller and the twins was 25 minutes.”
Campf has been lucky enough to be surrounded by wonderful family members who have helped him along the way. First there was his mother and grandmother. “My mother was a single parent, worked as a hairdresser to support our family and relied upon my grandmother to take care of me and my younger brothers when she was at work. They instilled in me a sense of fairness, honesty, an ‘if it’s worth having, it’s worth working for’ work ethic and that success means more than the accumulation of financial wealth.”
Now, as an adult, Campf is blessed to have another family member cheering him on. Even if they are family by marriage, entrepreneur Bill Bright has been most influential in Campf’s life.
“With respect to my current business skills and where I go from here, the most important mentor in my life has been Bill Bright. Among other things, I have been impressed by and learned from his entrepreneurial style, his attention to detail, his sense of business ethics and fairness, his ability to be practical even in the most complex or stressful of circumstances and his dedication to family.”
Campf began his life in Long Beach, California and practiced law in Los Angeles for five years before deciding that was not how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. “I am a firm believer in doing what you love and I was committed to making that happen. I went back to get my MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a focus on real estate. Anne happened to be attending the program.” They fell in love and got married in West Virginia. After a short stint in California, the couple moved back to West Virginia to help her father with the family business. “People are usually surprised when I tell them I moved from Los Angeles to a small town in West Virginia and love it. Anne and I decided some time ago to make West Virginia our permanent home. I love what I do for a living and I am very fortunate to have found such an opportunity in a setting like Summersville.”
Once a top skateboarder (sometimes skating with the pros) in his neighborhood with shoulder-length blond hair, Campf is now responsible for a broad range of global investment strategies including buying and selling companies, venture capital, energy generation, storage and transmission, real estate and alternative investments. “We have a diversified family office that has a unique capability to evaluate and make investments across a broad spectrum of industries. We often receive investment ideas and business plans for consideration from potential partners and make a point to review each one of them. When we do select a partner, we strive to structure a deal that is a win/win and enables us to build a long-term relationship. It’s all about the relationships.”
Never one to back down from a challenge or be too conservative to take a risk, Campf has seen many rewards. With so much on his plate, he works to maintain a sustainable balance between work and family and does a great job.
