Chris has more than 30 years of energy financing and investment experience, with a focus on providing strategic advice and transaction execution leadership through private equity and C-suite roles, primarily for growth companies involved in energy transition and infrastructure-oriented businesses and development projects.
Prior to joining NXT, Chris was Co-Founder and CFO of Gemini Midstream, and later EVP of Strategy and Senior Advisor for Gemini’s successor Trace Midstream, a private equity backed energy infrastructure development company. Chris led the commercialization and financing of Gemini’s build-out of a greenfield natural gas transportation system in the Haynesville Shale capable of delivering over 2 Bcf/d of natural gas to downstream markets. Gemini’s Haynesville assets were sold to The Williams Companies in April 2022 for $950 million in cash plus a material non-operating equity interest in Williams’ Louisiana Energy Gateway greenfield pipeline.
Prior to Gemini, Chris was a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Strata Energy Investments, an independent private equity business focused on midstream and downstream energy infrastructure projects in North America. While at Strata, Chris led the investment in and subsequent monetization of an infrastructure development company that permitted a world-scale propane export terminal in North America, which included greenfield marine, pipeline, storage, and rail facilities.
From 2008 to 2015, Chris was a Managing Director at First Reserve, where he co-founded First Reserve’s Energy Infrastructure business. Among other senior management roles on the investment team, Chris originated First Reserve’s investment in Navigator Energy Services, a greenfield oil transportation system in the Permian Basin, which was ultimately sold to NuStar Energy for $1.475 billion in cash. During his leadership with First Reserve, the infrastructure team raised almost $4 billion of investor capital commitments, arranged multiple debt financings across the capital structure, and made over a dozen platform and follow-on investments in midstream, power generation and other energy-related infrastructure assets.
Prior to First Reserve, Chris served for 15 years in the Energy Investment Banking Group with Credit Suisse, rising to Managing Director and leading the midstream and power mergers and acquisitions practice in North America. There he advised corporate and private equity clients on over $50 billion of mergers and acquisitions and $25 billion of financing transactions across the energy sector.
Chris has a dual Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, in Economics and Managerial Studies from Rice University.