April 10, 2025
Christopher K. Reilly ’84
Chair, Providence College Board of Trustees
Honorary Doctor of Business Administration
Christopher K. Reilly ’84 has served as chair of the Providence College Board of Trustees since 2018 and will conclude 16 years of board service in June 2025. One of the most consequential leaders in the college’s history, Mr. Reilly has led the board through a period of significant change that included the 2020 presidential transition from Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. ’80 to Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard, O.P. ’78, ’82G.
Mr. Reilly became chair of the Board of Trustees after five years as vice chair. He serves on the Board Affairs, Finance, Strategic Planning, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committees. He is chair of the Executive Committee of the Providence College Corporation.
Mr. Reilly is the co-founder of KarpReilly LLC, a private investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, which partners with premier small- to mid-sized consumer growth companies to achieve their long-term goals. KarpReilly invests in retail, ecommerce, direct-to-consumer, restaurants, consumer products, apparel, and food and beverage sectors.
Before founding KarpReilly in 2006, Mr. Reilly was a partner at Apax Partners, L.P., a global private equity firm. He led the U.S. Retail and Consumer Group and was a member of the U.S. Operating and Investment Committees. Prior to that, he was a partner at Saunders Karp & Megrue, a middle-market private equity firm with $1.5 billion in capital under management. He was a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and its three-person Management Committee. He began his career at Bankers Trust and later joined Morgan Stanley’s Merchant Banking Department.
Mr. Reilly studied accountancy at PC and earned an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. He and his wife, Lisa, live in New Rochelle, New York, and are the parents of three.
