Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Texas Wesleyan University as well as a Master’s in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas Arlington. Chris is currently the CIO for Unleashed Brands. Chris has held similar roles at Smoothie King, Pei Wei Asian Diner and On The Border. Chris has built out high performing IT organizations, implemented best-in-class digital platforms and utilized an all cloud-based approach for the supporting infrastructure and systems.

Chris started his career with his family’s Dallas based IT outsourcing company before transitioning to consulting at KPMG and Grant Thornton. Chris approaches tough technical and operational situations with a strong analytical and pragmatic approach anchored in his servant leadership style. His approach encompasses a leveraged blend of outsourcers/contractors, cloud services, in-house infrastructure and SaaS.

Throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to work in a variety of verticals and has been exposed to a wide array of technology solutions and architecture. His work experience has included IT effectiveness reviews, security penetration testing, data warehouse design, bankruptcy turn-around and IT governance reviews.

Chris has presented on Digital Innovation and Tech Strategy at several national conferences including MURTEC, FSTech, Pervasive Software’s IntegratioNEXT 9 and InnoTech Dallas.

Chris was recognized as an Enterprise Finalist by the 2022 Dallas CIO of the Year ORBIE® Awards for his outstanding leadership, management effectiveness, and business value created through technology innovation as Chief Information Officer of Smoothie King. Chris also holds advisory roles on the Board of Governors for the Restaurant Technology Network, Dallas Chair of the IFBTA and Innovation Advisory Council Member for Vation Ventures.

In Chris’ spare time he is an avid Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitionercompetitor and can be found watching his 15-year-old twins play soccer around the Great State of Texas.