About the firm
Gannett.Partners is an independent leadership advisory firm. We help investors and boards back the right leaders, and help those leaders grow. This page covers the team, the founder’s record and the companies we build, which we name so you know in advance what we will not be hired to evaluate.
More than 20 years in senior operating and investing roles.
CMO of CORE Media Group, a $300 million revenue public company built on famous names, including Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali and Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment, through its $509 million sale to Apollo.
Brand management on Dr Pepper and Oreo. Four years at Citi. Strategic marketing at Sony Music. A business line at MediaMath, the $1B+ ad tech company. The drive-in concert business that put 350,000 fans in 300 venues with Garth Brooks in 2020.
Across those roles, he hired more than 10 senior leaders and made the call to replace 5. He supervises every engagement personally.
Former Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate. Certified by the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute and Leadership Circle Profile.
Direct investor in over 20 active portfolio companies and limited partner in two venture funds. No management or investment authority attaches to the fund positions. Realized exits include Classy, Jackpocket, Geologie and SpaceX (secondary and IPO). We do not evaluate companies we hold a position in.
Long enough to know who carries the seat, and who only looks like they can.
“Chris is a hard-working self-starter who can lead a group of 50 as easily as he can build a one-to-one connection. Everyone he works with is willing to follow his lead. Chris is also one of the best marketing minds I have been associated with.”
“Chris is a gifted operator with a rare combination of creativity, a forte for management, and an exceptional vision for the future. In a very short time, he guided our department through a highly successful restructuring while providing stellar stakeholder management and a calming authority.”
“Working with Chris is an absolute privilege. His deep insight, expertise, and judgement around the challenges of entrepreneurial and executive activities make for an incredible combination.”
Our flagship practice. Founder & CEO Diligence gives investors, family offices and boards an independent answer on whether the person running a company is the right one for what comes next. Six weeks, one fixed fee, and no stake in the outcome.
Our largest practice by volume, for founders and CEOs who want an experienced thinking partner while they carry the seat, and for leaders whose conduct is under review, when counsel or the board engages us. When it follows a diligence engagement, it is contracted by the board or investor that retained us, not by the leader, and we do not evaluate a leader we are coaching or have coached in the past year.
A third practice, and part of why the first one holds. We co-found companies with founders and carry operating responsibility, not just an advisory role. We are paid through a combination of fees and equity. It is the same judgment applied from the other side of the table.
These are named here on purpose. A firm that evaluates leaders should be able to show where its own capital and time are committed, and to say in advance which companies it will not be hired to evaluate.
Co-founded · Education & Workforce
Built with Tracy “The D.O.C.” Curry. Media business and entertainment production as the classroom, for students who learn by making the thing rather than reading about it.
Co-founded · Music & Brand Partnerships
Name, image and likeness infrastructure for music, built on the model college athletics already proved. Artists as the rights holders, not the inventory.
We do not evaluate a company we hold a position in. That is a standing rule rather than a case-by-case judgment, which is why the positions are published here instead of disclosed on request.
We take a limited number of engagements each quarter. Your counsel is welcome on the first call.
