Chris Varelas

Chris Varelas is a founding Partner of Riverwood Capital. Prior to establishing Riverwood, Chris was the Global Head of Technology, Media & Telecom Investment Banking at Citigroup Global Markets. He was also Head of Citi’s National Investment Bank and as such was responsible for the oversight of Citi’s middle-market banking practice. His leadership propelled Citi’s market share in both technology M&A and capital raising from immaterial in the late 1990’s to top 3 globally in recent years. His 18-year tenure at Citigroup and legacy firm Salomon Brothers has given Chris a vast network in the Technology Industry which will greatly assist Riverwood in sourcing attractive global proprietary investment opportunities. In addition, as one of the top rated TMT bankers responsible for many of the largest transactions in the sector, Chris is skilled in sourcing, analyzing and structuring unique and complex technology deals, as evidenced by his leadership on landmark transactions such as Compaq/HP, Lucent Fiber, PeopleSoft/Oracle, IBM/PWC, Nokia/Navteq and Flextronics/Solectron. Chris earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and a BA from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California for which he serves on the Board of Trustees.