Hi, I’m Chris Theodore

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I am interested in history, justice, beauty, and the environments that shape what people become.

I am Sharon’s husband and Sophie and Max’s father.

I grew up in Santa Monica and later Temecula, California. My father taught in California public schools for 55 years. My mother gave her time to causes she believed in. From them I inherited a respect for moral seriousness, culture, and work that matters.

At Claremont McKenna College, I studied Fine Arts and Economics. I later received a full scholarship to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, where I earned a graduate degree in Art History.

Much of my twenties were spent abroad, especially in Geneva and Budapest—walking, learning languages, building businesses, and discovering how deeply place shapes people. Those years gave me a lasting interest in beauty, international life, and the power of environment to shape what people become.

Since then, my work has centered on journalism, civic life, and hospitality. I founded The Reader, which became one of the largest-circulation print magazines in California, reaching roughly 400,000 people by mail. In 2021, I ran for the United States Senate.

Today, I am building Avalon Partners and Elsewhere—projects shaped by the same belief: that places, stories, and institutions can be made more beautiful, more human, and more alive.