Chris brought twenty five years of corporate finance experience to Walden derived from previous commercial banking and capital markets roles within major financial institutions. Among his leadership positions, he served as Senior Vice President and Region Head in the Diversified Industries division of First Union/Wachovia Capital Markets, working with the senior management of public, private and closely held companies over a wide range of industries. Chris has completed a remarkable array of merger, acquisition, divestiture, leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions among more than 250 closed deals. In addition to his client management responsibilities, he served in strategic planning, product management and merger integration positions. While serving as the CFO of a dynamic IT appliance manufacturer, Chris’ led the acquiring company through the stages of target identification, valuation and due diligence, transaction documentation and financing, manpower planning and merger integration of a complementary software development firm.

The cornerstone to Chris’ success in the development of client relationships has been a consultative approach to client interaction, listening closely and applying his experience and expertise in tailoring solutions to his clients’ unique concerns. He has readily gone beyond the traditional range of debt and equity financings to include financial advisory, turnaround and strategic alternative analysis for companies operating in the manufacturing, distribution, technology, retailing, transportation, energy and financial services sectors. In doing so, Chris worked intensively with attorneys and accountants to bring many challenging financings to mutually satisfactory closings.

Chris obtained an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University (Strategic Planning and Finance), an undergraduate degree from Georgia State University (Finance and Economics) and the designation of Registered Securities Principal. He also served on active duty in the U.S. Army.