Chris has more than 15 years of experience bridging traditional financial services with cutting-edge innovation and technology. He has led global public policy efforts across digital assets, private funds, and the broader financial services sector, actively shaping legislation and regulation in the United States and abroad on behalf of clients. With a strategic understanding of how Washington works and an extensive network of contacts in Congress and across federal agencies (SEC, Treasury, Banking Agencies), Chris helps clients develop public policy solutions that deliver meaningful business value.
Before joining Thorn Run Partners, Chris co-founded and served as President of Capitol Asset Strategies (CAS), a consulting firm focused on helping clients navigate complex regulatory, policy, and strategic issues at the intersection of financial services and emerging technology. At CAS, Chris helped his crypto clients advance the bipartisan passage of the IRS Broker Rule Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution and helped his clients shape the recently passed U.S. stablecoin framework, the GENIUS Act.
Prior to forming CAS in 2022, Chris worked directly in the crypto industry. He served as Head of Global Government Relations for the Celo Foundation (an L1 blockchain) and led U.S. federal and state policy for Sorare SAS, a SoftBank-backed NFT gaming company. His work at Celo involved engaging on key provisions in the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, including frameworks for stablecoins and crypto market structure.
From 2017 to 2022, Chris spent five years in the private equity industry, building and leading the global advocacy program at the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA). Representing over 650 institutional investors with more than $2 trillion in AUM, Chris led successful campaigns on legislation and SEC rules affecting private markets and advanced ILPA’s legal best practices initiatives. He spearheaded the development of the ILPA Model LPA—the first free, public limited partnership agreement for private funds—and led engagement on the 2022 proposed SEC Private Fund Adviser Rule. He also advanced policy changes in the EU under AIFMD II, including the Article 23 fee reporting requirement for European LPs, and engaged on a variety of tax, foreign investment, and antitrust issues impacting private funds. This included ILPA’s engagement on retail access to alternative investments.
Before ILPA, Chris served as General Counsel and co-head of government affairs at the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), where he advocated for Business Development Companies (BDCs), Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs), and U.S. middle-market private equity advisers. He led the effort to create the SEC’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation and the permanent SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. He also advanced legislation that raised the SEC registration threshold for certain private fund advisers and supported the eventual passage of reforms to the BDC leverage cap to 2:1.
Earlier in his career, Chris worked on broker-dealer and investment adviser issues at the Financial Services Institute (FSI) and conducted insider trading investigations at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He also served as a legal fellow on the Senate Banking Committee under Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) during the drafting of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2009.
Chris remains active as an advisor, investor, and fundraiser in the private markets. He previously advised Aumni, Inc., a private fund legal analytics platform acquired by JP Morgan, and currently serves on the advisory board of Steward Asset Management, a strategic anchor investor in emerging and diverse private equity and opportunistic managers.
He holds a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science and Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Chris is admitted to the bar in California and the District of Columbia. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Catherine and their two daughters, Savannah and Caroline.
