Founder and CEO, Tercera
Winnetka, IL
Years of Service: 2016–2026

Chris G. Barbin is a serial entrepreneur with more than 25 years of business, technology, and investment experience across start-ups and private and public companies. He is currently the founder and CEO of Tercera, an investment and advisory firm specializing in helping IT professional services businesses grow and scale. He co-chairs Bates College’s advancement committee and works with the next generation of entrepreneurs leading Bates’ student venture competition—Bobcat Ventures.

Chris began his career at Grainger, a Fortune 500 industrial supply company that he helped launch into the Internet age with Grainger.com—one of the first B2B e-commerce platforms. From there he moved to webMethods, where, as SVP of Global Services, he helped grow the company valuation from $50M to $10B. Chris is best known for his leadership at Appirio, a global cloud services business that he co-founded in 2006 and led for 12 years as CEO. Appirio was one of the early pioneers in cloud computing and grew to 1,200 people in five countries. It was eventually acquired by Wipro Technologies in October of 2016 for $550M.

Chris holds board positions at Tercera, BeyondID, Hakkoda, Valiantys, is co-owner and a board member of Southern Grist (Nashville’s #1 craft brewery) and is chairman and co-founder of Compoveda (a high-end, private label tequila) and SipTequila.com (a direct to consumer e-commerce platform which distributes Compoveda and dozens of other rare, artisanal tequilas).

Chris and his wife, Lori, split their time between Winnetka, IL and Mexico now that their three children (Kate, Mia & William) have left the nest. Together they also manage a portfolio of family investments and are active with charitable organizations such as New Story, Project Healthy Minds, Isla Urbana, and various conservancy-related organizations globally.