Christopher Thorne

Chris Thorne is an authority on Negotiation, Private Equity, and Systems-thinking. He is an experienced global CEO, accomplished high-tech entrepreneur, and noted investor who has served leadership roles in a number of industries. Chris has applied his approach to negotiation and collaborative problem-solving throughout his remarkable career in business-building, deal-making, and investing in some of the most creative deals in the history of their category.

As chairman and CEO of Powermers Smart Industries, he has pioneered a solutions integrator for the commercial transportation and industrial equipment markets. As founder, chairman and CEO of Broadline Capital, he leads a global alternative investment firm focused primarily on investing in category leaders or category creators in highly-charged industries. Previously, Chris served leadership roles at McKinsey & Company, the global strategic consultancy, where he managed high-impact strategic and operational engagements for Fortune 500 companies. After excelling there, he left the firm to pursue his entrepreneurial vision, launching one of the world’s first profitable ‘Software-as-a-Service’ (SaaS) business models. As its founder, chairman and CEO, Chris created fundamental advances in inter-enterprise technologies and initiated a market consolidation strategy. The resulting company successfully sold to Roper Technologies (NYSE: ROP) for more than half a billion dollars in an all-cash transaction.

Chris was appointed as a Harvard Faculty Member in 2021 to share in the classroom what he has learned from three decades of deal-making and business-building. Inducted into the state bar at the Ohio Supreme Court in 1995, he has been recognized in the legal profession with the highest possible rating (10.0) over consecutive years by a global rating and review system. Chris received his Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He received his Doctor of Law (J.D.) with honors from Harvard Law School, and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (receiving final-year honors). When he was a student here, he initiated positive changes across campus while serving as president of the university-wide student government, founder of the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and competing in three intercollegiate sports (Rugby, Soccer, and Wrestling), while receiving various academic recognitions including the John Harvard Scholar award for academic achievement of the highest distinction.