
Chris Hayes
Advisory Board Member
Chris advises the Steward team across key initiatives as well as areas opportune for deployment of the firm’s strategy. Chris is an influential force in the private equity industry, most notably having led the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA)’s efforts on regulatory policy and fund terms, including spearheading the project to create the ILPA Model LPA, and building a network of LP legal professionals.
Previously he led global government relations at the Celo Foundation, a grant giving organization that supports Web3 startups building software on the open-source Celo blockchain. He also serves as an Advisor to Aumni, an investment analytics platform for private capital markets that is used by venture funds, family offices, university endowments and corporate venture firms.
His legal career spans the intersection of financial regulation and private funds. At the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), a trade association representing U.S. lower middle market private equity GPs, SBICs, and BDCs, Chris served as General Counsel and co-led government affairs. Previously, as Regulatory Counsel at the Financial Services Institute he represented broker-dealers and retail investment advisers. While at FINRA he led insider trading investigations and market surveillance for U.S. stock exchanges. In 2009, Chris also served as a legal fellow on the Senate Banking Committee during the writing of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation.
Chris holds a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law, and a B.A. in political science and legal studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is a member of the Law Alumni Board of the University of San Diego and is admitted to practice law in California and the District of Columbia.