Chris Carlberg

Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Armanino Advisory LLC

Growth is important for every organization.

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Bio

Meet Chris

As chief strategy officer (CSO), Chris helps drive the firm’s growth, both organic and inorganic. He accomplishes this by developing the firm’s strategy, creating new solutions and partnerships, and leading M&A transactions.

Before joining Armanino, Chris worked at Amazon.com, where he was part of the early team at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company’s cloud computing business. Prior to that, he was an attorney at Perkins Coie LLP, where he represented a variety of clients in the technology, telecommunications and aerospace industries.

Chris received a J.D. and an M.B.A. from Boston College and bachelor’s degrees in business administration and history from the University of Washington.

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Experience

Professional History

Experience

  • Dorsey & Whitney LLP
  • Perkins Coie LLP
  • Amazon.com, Inc.

Education

  • University of Washington
  • Boston College

Q&A

Q. What role do you play at the firm?
I help lead the day-to-day operations of our firm. I am also deeply involved in growing the firm, both organically and inorganically. In terms of organic growth, I help develop new consulting solutions and partnerships. I also spend a lot of my time working on inorganic growth from beginning to end. I help lead our M&A transactions from structuring and negotiation all the way through integration, which is where we focus a lot of energy to make sure we get the full strategic value from the transaction.
Q. What was it that drew you to Armanino?
I was drawn to Armanino’s entrepreneurial spirit. It’s a place where good ideas and ambition flourish, and individual contributions can really make a difference. Throughout my career, I’ve had a lot of experience in helping small things get big. This was the case when I worked with technology clients in private practice at law firms and in my time at Amazon, where I worked in their cloud computing business. I knew Armanino was the type of place I could bring my experience and good ideas and really move the needle.
Q. Make a prediction: Describe your vision of the future of the general business environment in the industries/areas you serve.
Computing resources will be consumed as a utility, like power and water. This is already happening, but it will accelerate. This means technology companies will compete on the basis of innovation and functionality rather than the underlying computing resources used to run their businesses.
Q. What is the toughest decision you have ever made?
The biggest decision I made, which wasn’t really that tough, was to leave the private law practice career path to work directly in-house for companies. Many lawyers join a firm and work to become partner; I took a different route. I always knew that I wanted to be closer to the trenches, working with teams to build or grow companies.
Q. What’s your proudest moment?
The birth of my kids. I know everyone says that, but it’s true.
Q. Who is (or was) the most influential person in your life?
From a career perspective, one of my early mentors who encouraged me to pursue an MBA in addition to my law degree in order to be an effective business advisor. He shared a lot of other great advice with me over the years, and I credit him for a lot of my success.
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