Chris Anderson's Biography

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Chris Anderson is a Senior Strategy and Business Development professional with 20+ years of diverse experience and progressive leadership. Chris is adept at developing successful growth strategies that are responsive to an ever-changing marketplace and that focus on automation and technology integration. He specializes in creating new brand concepts, building experiential customer environments, and fostering strategic partnerships and alliances. Chris’s has in-depth work experience in multiple industries including consumer products and retail, restaurants, real estate, government and the public sector.

Chris served as Vice President of Business Development at Sugar Mountain Capital, which manages investments in real estate, private and public equity, and innovative food brands. Chris led the global expansion for the company’s restaurant business which resulted in the addition of multiple new locations and concepts. He directed all business development activities including market analysis, new concept design, real estate selection, proposal creation, contract negotiation, and overall project launch. Chris integrated new technologies utilizing virtual reality and digital content to design multiple new locations simultaneously. He cultivated strategic partnerships and alliances allowing the business to scale quickly and achieve exponential growth.

Prior to his tenure at Sugar Mountain, Chris was the National Vice President of Retail at Brookstone Corporation. He led the company’s overall operations, business development, marketing, and merchandising efforts. Most notably, Chris created and launched a new airport retail division which became the company’s #1 strategic growth initiative and sustainable growth center. As part of the airport initiative, Chris designed and developed new brand designs and concepts that helped reshape the business’s future. He built, developed, and managed high-performing nationwide teams across multiple regions and locations. 

Outside of work, Chris is passionate about food and sustainable organic agriculture. This passion began at a young age, as he and his family sat around the dinner table discussing the daily challenges of operating America’s first ever organic farm, Walnut Acres. They rapidly grew their business from a small family farm into a nationwide iconic organic food brand which ultimately influenced the creation of US policy and national organic standards. Chris’s work in the organic industry continues today serving as he routinely advises world governments and corporations on how best to navigate global organic standards to expand international trade opportunities. 

Additionally, Chris also serves on the Board of Directors at the Walnut Acres Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to educate a new generation of consumers about sustainable organic foods and agriculture and to preserve his family’s legacy and contributions to the organic movement.

Chris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.