Christian T. Blackwell

Christian is a Venture Partner and Co-founder of Opus Faveo Innovation Development, where he has a particular interest in the challenges of innovation for universities, governments, and larger corporates.

Prior to Opus Faveo, Christian was a founder and investor in several start-up companies, an investment banker with Deutsche Bank in New York and London, and treasurer for the international operations of GTE/Verizon. His industry experience includes energy, telecommunications, technology, financial services, natural resources, education and infrastructure. Christian has led transactions of well over US$ 1 billion in size, mostly cross-border in nature, and he has a large amount of experience in emerging markets. He has conducted business in over 40 countries, and he speaks 4 languages.

Christian has a BA in political science and international affairs from Rice University and an MBA in international finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He was accepted to Rice at age 15, and he earned both degrees by age 21. In addition to innovation, he is interested in international political economy and the performing arts. He currently is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations, the American Council on Germany (New York), the Atlantik-Brücke (Berlin), the George W. Bush Institute Working Group on North American Competitiveness, the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft. Worth, the John Tower Center for Political Studies, and the SMU Cox School Associate Board.