About
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Chris Varelas is a founding partner of Riverwood Capital, a private equity firm focused on high growth technology and technology-related companies in need of capital and expertise to scale on a global basis.
Prior to establishing Riverwood, Chris worked at Salomon Brothers/Citi as Global Head of Technology, Media & Telecom Investment Banking, Head of Citi’s National Investment Bank, member of Citi’s Global Operating Committee and Culture Czar for all of Citi.
He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute for which he is a senior moderator and for which he co-founded the Aspen Finance Leaders Fellowship program, created to produce effective enlightened leaders in the financial services industry. He also sits on the boards of Nextdoor, for which he serves as Lead Director, and Insider.com. Chris also serves on the advisory board for Global Ventures, Citation Capital, Braidwell Partners, and the Moonshot Platform.
Chris earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a BA from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.
Chris is the author of How Money Became Dangerous, the inside account of our turbulent relationship with modern finance. An aspiring flâneur, Chris takes special care to find beauty in the marrow of any moment, and places a premium on making meaningful memories with friends, Fellows, colleagues, and family, especially his wife, Jessica, and daughter, Cia.
