About ARC

Built on connection.

ARC Development was founded by Ajshia and Atash Najafian, sisters and equal partners who share a conviction that the best organizations are built by leaders who understand both systems and people.

We are a referral-only practice. We work with a select number of organizations and leaders at any given time, ensuring that every engagement receives our full depth of attention.

What We Believe

Six principles that
guide our work.

Win-win is always possible

The best outcomes serve every stakeholder. We don't believe in zero-sum leadership, and we help organizations prove it.

Systems and people are inseparable

You can't fix culture with a memo, and you can't fix structure without understanding the humans within it.

Lasting impact requires both

Strategy without development is fragile. Development without strategy is aimless. We integrate both from day one.

Diversity is strategy

Diverse perspectives are not a nice-to-have. They are the source of resilient, creative, high-performing organizations.

Care is competitive advantage

Organizations that genuinely care for their people outperform those that don't. This is not idealism. It is evidence.

Customization over prescription

Off-the-shelf solutions create off-the-shelf results. Every engagement is designed from scratch for your specific reality.

The Founders

Meet Ajshia & Atash.

Ajshia Najafian

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Ajshia specializes in executive coaching, leadership development, and the human side of organizational transformation. Her career has spanned wellness, entertainment, and technology, giving her a rare fluency across industries and the leaders who shape them.

She works with senior leaders to develop the self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and strategic clarity that complex leadership demands. Her coaching philosophy centers on the conviction that the most effective leaders are those who can hold both ambition and empathy, driving results while building genuine trust across their organizations.

Atash Najafian

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Atash brings deep expertise in organizational development, systems thinking, and leadership coaching from working within Fortune 100 organizations like American Express and Microsoft, as well as high-growth startup ventures at Ripple.

Her work is grounded in the belief that sustainable transformation begins with understanding the full complexity of an organization: its people, its politics, and its potential. She has advised leaders and teams across industries on navigating large-scale change, building leadership pipelines, and creating cultures that attract and retain exceptional talent.

Our Heritage

Roots that run deep.

The ARC brand palette is drawn from our founders' heritage. Iranian and Mexican: cultures defined by warmth, depth, craftsmanship, and an abiding respect for the complexity of human connection.

Persian Blue
Terracotta
"By humanizing technology, we have this golden opportunity to reimagine how we connect with machines, and therefore, how we, as human beings, connect with one another."
Rana el Kaliouby

Start a conversation.

Every engagement begins with a complimentary 30-minute introductory call.

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