A native of Lexington, KY, Chris graduated cum laude from the Duke University in 1995 with a degree in Public Policy Studies. A leader on the varsity baseball team at Duke, Chris was one of only a handful of Duke student-athletes to earn All-ACC Academic honors 4 straight years. Upon graduation Chris moved to Florida and took a position with the Montreal Expos as General Manager of Montreal’s Class A minor league team, the West Palm Beach Expos. At age 22, Chris was the youngest active GM in professional baseball. Chris left the Expos for the dotcom world in late 1997 and took a position an e-commerce software startup in Las Vegas. From 1997 to its Nasdaq IPO in 2000, Chris was responsible for sales and development in the Southeastern US for PurchasePro. From 2000 to 2002 Chris moved to Las Vegas and assumed the Director of Strategic Alliances position with responsibilities of developing and managing domestic partnerships & international distribution channels in Singapore, Turkey, Belgium and Italy. Eventually, Chris left the software sphere to follow his two passions – Wine & Music. In early 2003 Rock 'n Roll Wine® was born. A pioneer in the de-mystification of wine, Rock 'n Roll Wine has produced over 500 wine and live music events/concerts in 6 states over the past 17 years. In 2007 Chris was named one of the 40 under 40 business entrepreneurs by In Business magazine. And in 2006, the company started their own Sonoma based winery under the RnR Wine brand. The company’s Wine Amplified Festival (2006 - 2015) was the world's premiere interactive and innovative wine tasting & music festival. The annual event featured over 200 wines and live performances by Blink-182, Imagine Dragons, Panic! At The Disco, Train and more.In early 2018, Chris began buying talent for AEG Presents in addition to RnR Wine. Chris books shows at Virgin Theater (formerly The Joint at Hard Rock) and various properties in the Las Vegas Valley with a primary focus on the 1,480 capacity Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. In 2019, Chris' efforts were integral in making Encore Theater the highest grossing <2000 capacity theater in the world -- and in the top 10 of all theaters under 10,000 capacity. (Source: Billboard Magazine)Chris lives in Las Vegas, NV with his wife, Dr. Kim Hammond, an elementary school principal, and their two children Chloe (21) and Kaden (17). He is also Board Chairman of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Nevada. Chris’ father, Tom, is a retired 4-time Emmy Award winning sports broadcaster for NBC Sports.6