Christopher Drake Heinz (born 1973) is an American

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

and investment manager. He is an heir to the

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The ...

fortune to the family food company

Heinz The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six contin ...

Family

Chris Heinz is the youngest son of

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and p ...

Henry John Heinz III Henry John Heinz III (October 23, 1938 – April 4, 1991) was an American businessman and Republican politician from Pennsylvania. Heinz represented the Pittsburgh suburbs in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and ...

(d. 1991) and

Teresa Heinz Kerry Teresa Heinz (born Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira; October 5, 1938), also known as Teresa Heinz Kerry, is a Portuguese-American businesswoman and philanthropist. Heinz is the widow of former United States Senate, U.S. Senator John Hei ...

. He is the great-great-grandson of the industrialist and founder of the

H.J. Heinz Co. The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six contine ...

He has two brothers, H. John Heinz IV (born 4 November 1966) and Andre Heinz. He and his brothers served on the board of

The Heinz Endowments The Heinz Endowments is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the United States, and was formed with the combined support from two smaller, private foundations: the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment. It awards more t ...

chaired by their mother. His father was killed in the 1991

mid-air collision In aviation, a mid-air collision is an accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. Owing to the relatively high velocities involved and the likelihood of subsequent impact with the ground or sea, very sever ...

of a helicopter and plane ( Merion air disaster). Chris Heinz is a stepson of former U.S. Secretary of State and former presidential candidate

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

, and stepbrother of

Alexandra Kerry Alexandra Forbes Kerry (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is a partner at Locomotive Films and co-founder of Fictional Pictures, a film production company based in New York and Los Angeles. She is married to conte ...

and

Vanessa Kerry Vanessa Bradford Kerry (born December 31, 1976) is an American physician, health care administrator, and doctor. She is a founder of the non-profit Seed Global Health. Her father is John Kerry, who served as the 68th United States Secretary of ...

. Heinz married Alexandra Lewis in February 2007. They have two children.

Career

In 2004 when his stepfather John Kerry, was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, Heinz quit his job working as a venture capitalist to work as a fundraiser and surrogate speaker for Kerry’s campaign. Heinz worked on his stepfather's Presidential campaign, and spoke at the

2004 Democratic National Convention The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for president and Senator John Edwards from North Ca ...

where he was considered a plausible candidate for a 2006 seat in the U.S. Congress. In 2005, he co-founded Rosemont Capital (named for the family’s

Fox Chapel Fox Chapel is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, and is an affluent suburb of Pittsburgh located northeast of downtown. The borough continually garners national prominence and is home to many of the wealthiest and most powerful ...

property near Pittsburgh) until departing in 2014. He was a partner in the Washington, D.C. firm Rosemont Seneca from its founding in 2009 until 2014, when he ended his working relationship with

Hunter Biden Robert Hunter Biden (born February 4, 1970) is an American attorney who is the second son of U.S. President Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Hunter Biden. He is also a hedge fund, venture capital, and private-equity fund investor who form ...

, after Biden took a board position on Burisma Holdings (a Ukrainian

fracking Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frac ...

gas company), which was owned by

Ukrainian oligarch Ukrainian oligarchs ( Ukrainian: українські олігархи, romanized: ukrayins'ki oliharkhy) are business oligarchs who emerged on the economic and political scene of Ukraine after the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum. This peri ...

Mykola Zlochevsky, the former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources. In 2015, he relocated to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He has served on the board of the

Navy SEAL Foundation A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

. He is a former member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinz, Christopher 1973 births Yale University alumni Harvard Business School alumni Businesspeople from Pittsburgh Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. Heinz family Living people