Chris Needham is a Managing Director at Citizens Bank, and is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Seguin Partners, LLC. Prior to joining Citizens Bank, Chris was a Managing Director and principal shareholder of Bariston Partners, LLC, a private equity firm and merchant bank that has successfully completed its program of investment. He was also a division executive at RBS Citizens Bank and at State Street Bank specializing in more than twenty industry segments, including security alarm monitoring, records management, business services, publishing, business data and information, cable television, cellular telephone, rural telephone, communications towers, television and other media. Earlier, Chris was a lending officer in general middle market commercial and industrial lending and a division credit manager lending to professional firms, healthcare firms, non-profits and small businesses at State Street. Chris began his career as an operations manager with a salmon processing company in Alaska.
While at Bariston, Chris originated investments in, and served on the boards of, Coastal Security Systems, Inc. and Health Watch Holdings, Inc, both of which have been sold. Chris continues as a board member of the last Bariston portfolio company, Guardian Security Holdings, Inc. d/b/a Ackerman Security Systems. Chris is Vice Chairman of the Board of the Learning Center for the Deaf where he has served as a Director since 1999. He also served as a Director and Treasurer of hospice organizations during the 1990’s. Chris holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Finance from the University of Maryland.