Chris Fugaro is a partner at Guardian Capital Partners, an operationally focused private equity fund based in Philadelphia. Guardian has completed 70+ transactions over 16 years of investing in the lower middle market.

Chris is responsible for developing and managing Guardian’s origination initiatives for new and existing portfolio companies. Chris joined Guardian in 2010 and manages a broad network of strategic relationships with corporations, investment bankers, and other intermediaries. Additionally, Chris has extensive deal execution experience in all phases of the investment process.
Prior to Guardian, Chris had a professional career in financial advisory and strategy consulting. He was an investment banker within Griffin Financial Group where he provided merger and acquisition and capital raising services. Early in his career, Chris was a management consultant with Greenwich Associates, where during his tenure he ran the domestic commercial banking research team advising executives at bulge bracket financial institutions.

Chris currently serves on the board of Philadelphia Chapter of the Association of Corporate Growth where he oversees the Chapter’s flagship annual event, M&A East.

Chris earned his MBA from Wake Forest University with a concentration in finance as a recipient of the Charles H. Babcock Scholarship and his BA in business management from Gettysburg College.