Christopher H. Volk

Chris began his career in commercial banking, later moving to Arizona where he joined a financial services customer, eventually guiding its 1994 public offering and serving as President. It was the first of three companies he would guide and take public across three decades. The most recent of these was STORE Capital, the second company he conceived, founded and led and which made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. STORE’s strong business model would attract prominent shareholders, foremost among them Berkshire Hathaway, which became the company’s largest institutional investor. All three companies led by Chris were engaged in providing real estate lease and mortgage solutions to middle market businesses. Combined, they invested more than 20 billion in thousands of properties across the United States, with each company outperforming peer benchmarks.

Chris is a frequent writer having authored numerous articles on real estate, financial statement analysis, business models, leadership, public equities and wealth creation. In 1999, he devised the Value, or V-Formula, a simplified equation to determine business equity returns and wealth creation potential. His inaugural article would go on to win the Lybrand Gold Medal, bestowed for the best article of the year by the Institute of Management Accountants. The article inspired follow-on pieces, a video series and eventually a 2022 book, “The Value Equation: A Business Guide to Wealth Creation for Entrepreneurs, Leaders and Investors.”

Chris was a 2019 regional winner of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of The Year award and was recognized in 2022 as a distinguished alumnus by Georgia State University. He has served as a visiting professor to Cornell University, guest lectures at many colleges and serves on multiple charity boards. He received his B.A. Degree from Washington and Lee University and his MBA from Georgia State University. Chris and his wife reside in Paradise Valley Arizona and Huntsville, Alabama.