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Christopher J. Davis
Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative and Financial Officer, Safeguard Scientifics
In his role as EVP and Chief Administrative and Financial Officer at Safeguard, Chris Davis brings deep expertise and substantial experience in public and private financing, mergers and acquisitions, board governance and corporate compliance - especially with Sarbanes-Oxley. He joined the company as Vice President, Strategic Development in March 2000 as part of the new Safeguard management team and was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in August 2001. He was instrumental in rationalizing the broad and diverse group of holdings, with a number of exits generating more than $300 million of proceeds. He managed the investment of more than $200 million in new and existing strategic companies for Safeguard, as well as the refinancing of Safeguard and several of its companies. With Chris' leadership, Safeguard stands on solid financial ground, and ended 2005 with parent company cash balance of $141 million.
Before joining Safeguard, Chris was President and Chief Executive Officer of LFC Financial Corporation, a privately held financial services company, where he was responsible for complex merchant banking and project financing transactions. He was actively involved with the acquisition, financing and operation of small businesses engaged in technologies promoting alternative energy sources.
Chris began his career at Coopers & Lybrand as a Certified Public Accountant and has also been an independent consultant for early stage, technology-focused companies. He currently serves on the boards of Alliance Consulting, Laureate Pharma, Mantas and Pacific Title and Art Studio.
Chris enjoys working with revenue-stage companies that have solved the technology part of the success equation, and now seek guidance with financial infrastructure and projects as they grow and cope with rapid changes.
Among his many accomplishments at Safeguard, the spin-off of Mantas from SRA is one that Chris considers both a great challenge and a key milestone for Safeguard. Chris directed the structuring and financing of the deal, including the intellectual property management, licenses, contracts, and human resources - all of which were critical to the future success of Mantas. More recently, Chris was instrumental in refinancing Safeguard's long-term debt and in divesting the company's 51% interest in CompuCom Systems. These events significantly changed the complexion of Safeguard and completed its strategic shift to a focus on revenue-stage companies. | 