While serving as a career naval officer, Chris Rawley visited dozens of war-torn and poverty stricken countries and began to appreciate the importance of agriculture to every single person on earth. As a professional investor with this new found appreciation, he decided to invest in a farm, but quickly discovered that these types of assets were inaccessible to the average person. The problem drove him to create Harvest Returns in 2016 to democratize investments in agriculture.
Rawley has held corporate management roles in Jones Lang LaSalle, Electronic Data Systems, L-3 Communications, and served as a defense consultant at Special Operations Command with Blackbird Technologies. He has invested in real estate and income-producing agriculture for nearly two decades. Rawley is an angel investor in early stage agriculture and food companies, including the Indian agriculture FinTech company Jai Kisan. He serves on the advisory board of the AgTech start-up AgroFides.
As a Captain in the United States Navy Reserve, Rawley is Chief of Staff for the Naval Reserve Surface Forces, helping to oversee 3,800 sailors supporting fleet units around the world. During his 28 year military career, Rawley has filled a variety of leadership positions in naval, expeditionary, and joint special operations units afloat and ashore. He has deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Western Pacific. Rawley has a degree from Texas A&M University, earned an MBA at George Washington University, and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College.
Sign up to view 7 direct reports
Get started