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I was born Arsalan Navidi on June 6, 1959 in Tehran, Iran to a Petroleum Engineer and a National
Iranian Oil Company executive father and a home maker mother. I completed my
elementary education at the Marica School (also known as Shahdokht Farahnaz),
followed by my secondary education at Razi
High-School, both of which are located in Tehran. In 1977, after
graduating from Razi, I emmigrated to Washington, DC to pursue my education at
university level. After receiving my bachelor's degree in Chemistry from
The American University in 1982, I pursued an MChE degree in Chemical
Engineering at The Catholic University of America,
both of which are located in Washington, DC.
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Upon graduation from Catholic University in 1985, I accepted a position as an
Environmental Engineer with the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection and Energy, and relocated to Trenton, New Jersey. After two years of
employment with NJDEPE, in 1987 I accepted a Sr. Consultant/Project Manager
position with Booz, Allen & Hamilton, and
returned to the Washington, DC area. In 1990, after becoming naturalized as a
U.S. Citizen, I was offerred a position as a Project Manager with
Rust Environmental & Infrastructure, where I was employed until
1994. Following Rust, Ogden Environmental & Energy Services asked me to
join them in a Sr. Project Manager capacity, where I remained employed until
1995.
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It was during my employment at Rust that I met my future wife Gretchen Eberhard. She
is a native of Annapolis, Maryland and a graduate of Saint Mary's
College. Gretchen and I were married in August 1993 and lived in Rockville, Maryland, a northern suburb of
Washington, DC. In 1998, we acquired a beautiful black Toy Poodle named "Roxy" and on August 19, 2000, we became
the proud parents of Nicholas Alexander, which we call "Nicky". Unfortunately,
Gretchen and I are no longer together.
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During my professional career, I gradually deviated from engineering and concentrated
more on computer-related aspects of my field, until I no longer practiced
engineering and spent full-time programming, desigining and developing
databases and websites. In 2000, I became Microsoft-Certified (MCP).
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In 1997, Gretchen and I established a limited liability company named
Visual Development International (VDI), where I am employed. Some of the organizations to whom VDI has provided
its services include Anser, Westat,
FDIC, Sallie Mae,
Fannie Mae,
Freddie Mac, American Red Cross, and The Federal Reserve Board.
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I have an older sister, Mandy and a younger brother,
Ali, both of whom also reside in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Mandy received her Ph.D. in
Linguistics from Georgetown University and resides in Germantown, MD.
My brother, who completed his masters degree in International Transaction at George
Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, is a Software QA Test Engineer and lives in Centreville, Virginia. Both of my parents travel frequently between
Tehran and Washington, DC.
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I have many hobbies such as traveling, photography, running and skiing, but my most
favorite hobby is the sport of Triathlon. For the past 15+ years, I have been competing as an amateur
triathlete in triathlon races worldwide. My accomplishments include 3 Ironman triathlons including Ironman Canada in 2008,
Ironman USA Lake Placid in 2007 and
The Great Floridian in 1998, 20+ Half-Ironman distance triathlons, and 250+ other types of
races. I have also competed in 5 separate World Triathlon Championship races representing Iran. I have won my age group and placed top three in
my age group in several triathlons sponsored by The Triathlantic Association and
The Columbia Triathlon Association. I am currently nationally ranked 690th in the country.
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Aside from the sport of Triathlon, I am also an avid skier and runner and have competed in 36 marathons and ultra-marathons in 19 states + DC, including
Boston (2), New York City (4), Marine Corps (6),
Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Miami, Los Angeles , Houston,
Steamtown (PA), Myrtle Beach, Detroit,
Nashville Country Music, St. George (Utah), Arizona R&R,
NC Outer Banks, New Orleans Mardis Gras, DC
National Marathon and Pittsburgh marathons. I also belong to the 50 States Marathon Club, which tracks runners running a marathon in all 50 states.
For more detailed information about my athletic activities and personal achievements and records, please refer to my Athletic Activities & Achievements page. To read an article, that includes several
action photos, written about my triathlon achievements, please refer to the Iranian Sports Homepage. If you would like
to view my family, as well as competition-related photos, please see my Photo Gallery.
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Click on the 2 links below to view a list of other Iranian sites on the Internet, as well as a list of sports or Triathlon-related sites.
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