Christopher Cogan

 Christopher Cogan

Christopher G. Cogan is the Manager of Seven Funds, LLC. Since 2014. Previously, he served as Managing Partner of the Bellwether Group at Morgan Stanley. In that role, Chris managed day-to-day operations of the team with more than $1.6 billion in assets under management and handled corporate client services including: strategic planning, expansion capital, debt financing, and exit strategies. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Chris was Founder and Chief Investment Officer of a boutique private investment firm in Orlando Florida, where he realized a 3.5X return on invested capital and a 28% IRR over an eight-year period.

For thirty years, he has envisioned, built and run successful businesses in diverse fields ranging from water pollution control to contract procurement services, real estate, and software design and development.

• Chris started his first company, an environmental services firm, at age 18 and ran it for six years before selling to a public utility.
• In 1989, while finishing college, he led a spin-out of major government software systems from NCR Corporation, secured funding from Oracle, and grew the business for three years before rolling back into NCR post-merger with AT&T.
• In 1992, he created MCFI to provide design, purchasing and construction management for the hotel and hospitality industry where he doubled revenues five consecutive years to more than $100 million.
• In 1996, Chris spun-off the SaaS procurement software division of MCFI, creating GoCo-op, Inc., which he grew through four rounds of funding of over $85M into the leading provider to the global hotel industry.
• In 2000, he formed Cogan Realty and Development where he still serves as a director. 
• In 2001, he stepped-down from day-to-day operations at GoCo-op to start a boutique private investment firm and in 2009 transitioned that business to Morgan Stanley when he co-founded the Bellwether Group and served as Managing Partner until 2014.
• Upon leaving Morgan Stanley in 2014, Cogan formed Seven Funds, LLC where he currently serves as Managing Partner and CIO.  Seven Funds manages venture capital funds and makes private investments on behalf of individual investors and family offices. 

Chris is a graduate of Rollins College with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He completed the Management Program at the Crummer Graduate School of Business as well as the AEA/Stanford Executive Forum at Stanford University. He served as a Board Member at the Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship (CFAE) at the Rollins College business school and on the Investment Board of the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research. He holds the designation of Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) and securities licenses including Series 7, 31 and 66. Cogan has testified before the US Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission as an expert on Internet Commerce and has served as an industry expert for the international law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue. He was awarded The Blue Chip Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Award for Business Leadership from Ernst & Young, and the Forty Under 40 Award from the Orlando Business Journal.