Board of Directors
Board Member
Chris Cantarella
Partner
Heidrick & Struggles
Chris is a leading member of the Financial Services, Private Equity, and Technology Practices for Heidrick & Struggles.Most recently Chris was a leader in Ernst & Young's Private Equity Practice. As Director for their Private Equity Practice Mid Atlantic, he worked with numerous funds and their portfolios. While a coordinating partner on numerous clients, Chris also became E&Y's senior relationship manager in the US focusing in the Private Equity market. Previous to Chris' work in Private Equity, he lead Ernst & Young's Venture Capital Advisory Group (VCAG) Mid Atlantic where his team served Venture Capital firms and high growth technology companies. In his tenure at E&Y, Chris worked closely with many technology, IT services, financial services, and defense-related companies.
Chris began his business career as a senior consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he worked on multiple engagements in strategy, re-engineering, and Activity Based Costing for major organizations to include aerospace and other client companies. Prior to entering the business world, Chris was a US Naval Officer serving as a Radar Intercept Officer flying F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft.
Chris is on the board of a Washington DC Based M&A advisory firm (Virtual Strategies Inc). and he is active as a committee/board member for the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) Private Equity Committee, the NVTC Entrepreneurship Center, the Mid Atlantic Venture Association, the Mid Atlantic Venture Conference, the Association for Corporate Growth, the Virginia Biotechnology Association, and the Potomac Officers Club. Chris received a B.S. in engineering from the US Naval Academy and an MBA from The George Washington University. He is also a graduate of Harvard's High Potentials Leadership Program.
