Chris Versace - Biography
Christopher (Chris) Versace, The Thematic Investor, brings clarity and understanding to investors and executives through a differentiated perspective that looks at the intersection of economics, demographics, psychographics, technology and regulatory mandates on the global stage. Mr. Versace uses those intersections to identify key themes and structural shifts as well as those companies best positioned to benefit from them. His insights are the culmination of more than 20 years analyzing industries and companies in a variety of roles as an equity analyst, portfolio manager, investment banker and strategic consultant.
Mr. Versace is the editor of the newsletter The Growth & Dividend Report and is a featured columnist to The Street.com as well as a contributor to FoxBusiness.com and Forbes.com. In August 2014, Mr. Versace was named an Assistant Professor at the New Jersey City University School of Business as well as the faculty advisor to the school’s award winning Student Investment Management Group. He is a frequent guest on radio and TV programs including Making Money with Charles Payne and Cavuto on the FOX Business Network, TheStreetTV, One American News Network, The Sam Sorbo Show, Live with Andy Parks, and several others. He is a frequent speaker and panel facilitator at The Money Show, Freedom Fest, and the American Association of Individual Investors. Mr. Versace is the co-author of the forthcoming book Cocktail Investing: Distilling Everyday Noise into Clear Investment Signals for Better Returns from Wiley due in 2015.
Mr. Versace also hosted PowerTalk, a weekly podcast that looked at key issues across a range of industries and in the economy with guests such as Steve Forbes, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Dr. John Lott, Lou Dobbs, Niall Ferguson, Stephen Moore, Charlie Gasparino, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez and Peter Schiff among others. On the program, he also conducted long format interviews with executives from General Motors, Visa, Qualcomm, InterDigital, IBM, Cisco Systems, Skyworks Solutions, Slingbox, KEYW Holding, Domino’s Pizza, Motorola, Panera Bread, Sourcefire, Smith & Wesson, Staples and others as well as discussed industry shaping events with key members at the Consumer Electronics Association, the National Association of Development Companies, and the Truckload Carriers Association.
Prior to The Growth & Dividend Report, Mr. Versace founded The Thematic Investor, an institutional investment newsletter that showcased his research insights and investment acumen. During that time, Mr. Versace was a recurring guest on the Fox Business Network and authored the weekly Corner of Wall & Main for The Washington Times.
Prior to The Thematic Investor, Mr. Versace founded Versace Management which engaged in various contract consulting projects, including the creation of thematic based investing portfolios for Agile Capital Management and The VZN Group; advising on several mergers and capital raises for Agile Equity, LLC; consulting projects for Sprint-Nextel’s Competitive Intelligence group and more. During this time, Mr. Versace led and/or participated on numerous panel discussions focusing on early stage company financing at We Media 2007, the Northern Virginia Tech Council’s New Media Group and George Mason University’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy.
The Growth & Divided Report, The Thematic Investor and Versace Management as well as his written columns all leverage his more than 13 years experience in the equity research departments of Salomon Brothers; Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Friedman Billings Ramsey (FBR). At these institutions, Mr. Versace analyzed the wireless, display and machinery/ capital goods as well as home building/building product industries to bring clarity, understanding and returns for both domestic and foreign mutual funds, hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Mr. Versace’s differentiated analysis of the wireless industry while at FBR focused on an ecosystem or food chain approach that reflected consumer trends, carrier offerings (voice, data) and device evolution as well as an understanding of disruptive component level technologies (wireless interface, semiconductors, displays). Mr. Versace’s unique insights led to him being quoted in the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Investors Business Daily and other publications as well as appearing on CNBC, CNBC Europe and CNNfn and being given an honorable mention in Institutional Investor Magazine.
Mr. Versace earned a B.S. in Economics, a B.A. in Mathematics and an MBA in Finance from Fordham. University. He currently holds the Series 65 designation.