天美传媒

Biography

Chris McGowan is the General Partner of CJM Ventures (鈥淐JMV鈥�), a Chicago growth equity and private equity investment firm.

McGowan鈥檚 private equity career began 29 years ago with AEA Investors in New York City, after earning an undergraduate degree in theoretical mathematics from Columbia University鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, and following two years of mergers and acquisitions training at Morgan Stanley.

After completing an MBA at Harvard Business School, he joined Madison Dearborn Partners (鈥淢DP鈥�) in Chicago, where he co-headed their basic industries practice for the last five years of his 12-year career there. 聽At MDP, he oversaw more than $2 billion of equity investments focused on buyouts and growth equity globally in the industrial, consumer, and energy & power sectors.聽 He continues to serve on the Board of prior MDP portfolio company Boise Cascade (former Chairman of Audit Committee, NYSE: BCC) and formerly served on or advised the boards of Smurfit Kappa Group (LN: SKG), BWAY Holdings, FirstWind, US Power Generating, OPENLANE, The Illinois Venture Capital Association, and others.

In 2011, with the help of MDP leadership and mentors, McGowan formed CJMV, an investment firm focused on management buyouts of and growth equity investments in companies located near Chicago and London. 聽CJMV's current portfolio includes OPTO International, an Illinois-based manufacturer of retail shelving and display systems; Cedar Capital, a Chicago-based asset management firm; and Ingenica Solutions, a UK-based health care information technology company.聽 CJMV鈥檚 former portfolio companies include Autism Home Support Services (鈥淎HSS鈥�), the largest provider in Illinois of home-based therapy for children on the autism spectrum. He is also a current Board member of 8th Light, Author Capital Partners, BigStep Cloud, Consumer Ventures, Innovare, Just Hot Tubs, Kinzie Capital, Leadership Lyceum, MetalSoft, Salem Cyber and is a Board observer for Psycle London.聽聽 He was formerly a Board member of Kenna Security (acquired by Cisco), Rise Interactive (acquired by Quad), Simple Mills (recapitalized by Vestar), SonarMed (acquired by Medtronic) and Spikeball.

Since Spring 2012, McGowan has taught at the University of Chicago鈥檚 Booth School of Business (鈥淏ooth鈥�), and currently serves there as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, and as an Investor in Residence and Faculty Advisor to Booth鈥檚 Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. In the Fall of 2023, he begins his 13^th year teaching Booth鈥檚 Sterling Partners Investment Thesis Challenge (鈥淪PITC鈥�) and his 11^th year teaching Booth鈥檚 Private Equity / Venture Capital Lab.聽 He is also conducting the 9^th year of the Booth Private Equity Case Challenge (f.k.a. Oxford-Chicago Global Private Equity Challenge).

McGowan is an active angel investor and currently serves as Chairman of the Limited Partner Advisory Committee for Hyde Park Venture Partners Fund I (and a member of their Fund II, Fund III and Opportunity Fund鈥檚 Boards), and as Chairman of the Advisory Board for Valley Growth Ventures.聽 He is former member of Hyde Park Angels鈥� Board of Directors and Portfolio Advisory Board.聽 His angel investments include Aero Design Labs, Agent.ai, AIM Clinics, Alnair Therapeutics, AuditSight, Awakened Foods, BallotReady, Blueprint, Book+Main, Branch Messenger, Brilliant, Catalytic, Chowbus, Clearcover, Clyde, Codeverse, Cohesion, Colony Display, DAOHQ, Dispatch, EVA Automation, ExplORer, Farmers Fridge, FarmLogs, Fillow, FourKites, Frank, GeoFeedia, Havoc Shield, Hologram, Human Predictions, Kaizen Health, Klover, LandscapeHub, Lightpoint Medical, LivNow Relocation, Luxury Garage Sale, Made In Cookware, Market Wagon, Markit, MAX Analytical, MetalSoft Cloud, Nanograph, nOCD, Noirefy, NuCurrent, Occasion, Ocient, Pacha Soap, Packback, Pangea, ParkWhiz/Arrive, PartySlate, Polyphotonix, PopularPays, Provi, Resonado, Rheaply, ShipBob, Sifter, Stacked, StreamLink, Stroma Vision, Techstars, Tenacity Cloud, ThinkCerca, TonDone, TractorZoom, TransparentC, Truss, TurboAppeal, Vertex, Woodlawn Sheer and YCharts.

McGowan married his high school and college sweetheart, Sandy, and they have three children: one attending Walter Payton College Prep, and two former graduates of the University of Chicago鈥檚 Laboratory Schools (鈥淟ab鈥�). 聽At Lab, McGowan served for nine years on its Board of Directors including four years leading Lab鈥檚 Development Committee (two as Chair, two as Co-Chair), including oversight for Lab+, the School鈥檚 $80 million capital campaign.聽 He is also a former Trustee for the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago.聽 McGowan recently completed his fifth year as President of Friends of Walter Payton College Prep (and former Chair, Annual Fund), and serves on the SHSAA Board of Trustees for Stuyvesant High School, where he attended with Sandy in New York City.

Academic Areas

• Entrepreneurship