Chris Christofi

Last updated

Chris Christofi
Chris Christofi portrait.jpg
Born
23 October 1979, Melbourne, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Businessperson
Author
Philanthropist
Children4
Website chrischristofi.com.au

Chris Christofi is an Australian born Greek-Cypriot entrepreneur, sporting director and sports sponsor who is the founder and CEO of Reventon. [1] Since 2010, he has been the major sponsor of cue sports, is the director of the Reventon Snooker Academy and also created the Reventon Triple Crown.

Contents

He is an author of best-selling book, Your Path To Wealth: Brick By Brick, and the host of 'Relentless: Life On Your Terms Podcast'

Biography

Chris Christofi was born in Melbourne, Australia to Peter and Andigoni (Annette) Christofi, who are both Greek Cypriot. He is the youngest of 4 children, with elder siblings Pat, Zen & Artemis.

In 1988, he along with family, moved back to Cyprus, when he was 9 years old. At the age 10, he started selling lottery tickets on the streets of Cyprus and working 10-hour shifts at his father's supermarket on the weekends and school holidays. [2] [3] [4] As a child, Chris was an avid skateboarder following in the footsteps of his brother Zen, who skateboarded at a very high level. Chris also loved playing table tennis. He enjoyed kickboxing and participated in 7 fights with a fight record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. [5] He was trained by his oldest brother Pat.

Around the age of 13, Chris fell in love with cue sports, particularly pool and snooker. [6] At the age of 16, he returned to Melbourne and started playing snooker at Brunswick Club and later represented Victoria nationally on 5 separate occasions in the under 18’s and under 21’s.

Career

At the age of 19, he began working for a property market development company and later bought his first property with the help of his parents. Later, he formed a business partnership in Queensland and was working on expanding it. By the age of 24, he owned twenty-four investment properties. Somehow, the business collapsed and left Chris in a massive debt of $780,000. [7] After the debacle, he sold all of his properties and moved back to his parents home. At the same time, his eldest son became deaf after a long battle with meningitis and he split with his partner.

In 2005, Christofi was under a debt of $348,000. [8] At this stage, he started a new company, Reventon, and opened its first office in the lounge room of his parents' home. [4] [8] Due to his efforts and hard work, Reventon later became a leading investment and financial services company and currently manages more than $1 billion in real estate transactions. [2]

In September 2019, he started a new podcast named RELENTLESS: Life On Your Terms. He also published his best-selling book, Your Path To Wealth: Brick By Brick in 2019. [4] In the year, he was appointed as one of the top 100 young entrepreneurs in Australia and won the Melbourne Young Entrepreneur Awards 2019 in the category Finance. [9] [10]

Contribution to cue sports

Christofi has been a major contributor to the sport of snooker and billiard as a player, administrator, and sponsor. [6]

He started playing snooker at the age of 14 when he lived in Cyprus. He returned to Australia when he was 16 and started playing for Brunswick where he was promoted to A grade. [6] Later, he competed in the Australian U18 and U21 national tournaments, representing Victoria alongside his friends Neil Robertson and James Mifsud. [6] He has won snooker events, including Vic Minors and has played in the quarter-finals of open snooker events. [6]

In 2010, at a time when the sport was declining, Christofi started sponsoring the Australian Billiards and Snooker Council (ABSC) and also saw the creation of its own ranking system, named the Reventon Ranking system. [11] Due to Chris continued support and financial contributions to the Yarraville Billiards and Snooker Club (YBSC) and Victoria Billiards and Snooker Association (VBSA), the YBSC club was renamed to the Reventon Snooker Academy. [12]

In 2016, the ABSC honoured Christofi with the creation of the Reventon Triple Crown, a series of tournaments which combine Reventon Masters, the Reventon Classic and the Reventon International, and are the highest prized tournaments held in Melbourne, Australia. [13] [11]

In 2020, the Reventon Triple Crown received international coverage with 278 entries and a disclosed $135,700 AUD in prize payouts. Part of the funds raised for the tournament were donated to the White Ribbon Foundation. In the same year, the ABSC President, Frank Dewens, awarded Chris for his recognition of his outstanding contribution to the sport.

Philanthropy

Christofi has sponsored charitable initiatives such as White Ribbon Australia, Expression Australia, World Vision. [14] He is a major contributor to Vinnies' "CEO Sleepout", a charity which raises awareness regarding homelessness. [15]

Vinnies CEO Sleepout

In June 2018, Christofi raised $40,185 for Vinnies CEO Sleepout, to which he contributed $10,000. [16]

In 2019 he raised a total of $60,564 with Christofi donating 50 cents to every dollar raised, donating approximately $20,000. [16]

In 2020, the CEO Sleepout was virtual due to covid so Christofi slept on the streets of Melbourne for two consecutive nights in June along with his then wife. [17]

In the same year, 'Brick by Brick' fund-raising project was created. [2] He purchased a vacant block of land in Mt. Duneed in order to build a home, and planned to sell the property, in order to support people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Australia. [2]

In 2021, Christofi was appointed the face of the CEO Sleepout campaign, and took part in his fourth Sleepout. He was the second highest fundraiser in Victoria out of 206 CEO's, and fourth highest fundraiser out of 1,613 CEO's nationwide. Chris exceeded his target of $100,000, raising $113,173 for Vinnies. [18]

In 2022 Christofi completed his fifth Vinnies CEO Sleep Out, once again being awarded the second highest fundraiser in Victoria and exceeding his target of $250,000, raising a total of $263,096. [19] It was this year that he was named the first CEO to raise over $250,000 in one campaign.

In 2023, Christofi completed his 6th CEO Sleepout, raising a total of $122,240. This year actually featured the highest number of donations from other parties. Chris was awarded the Highest Fundraiser Award (VIC), and joined John Piccolo again as Vinnies ambassador. [20]

Construction of the Brick by Brick house was nearly completed as of April 2024, with the auction scheduled to occur in the Spring of 2024, with a target to raise up to $100,000,000.

In 2024, Chris completed his 7th Vinnies CEO Sleepout with a goal to raise $135,000. He was named the Highest Fundraiser Award (VIC) once again, raising a total of $137,327.

He has currently raised $818,762 to date, with a goal to raise 1 million dollars in next years campaign alone.

Lead With Kindness

In 2021, Chris hosted his first Lead With Kindness event. Covid lockdowns meant that three days out from the event, he had to pivot to hosting it online. Despite this he still raised $20,000 from the event.

Following years were even more successful. In 2022 he hosted the first in-person Lead With Kindness charity auction at Melbourne restaurant Marameo where he raised over $54,000 just in auction items alone. [21]

In 2023 the event moved to the larger event space of Le Ciel events in Cremorne, where it raised over $100,000 with over 200 people attending.

2024’s event was once again held at Le Ciel events in Cremorne. With over 170 attendees, Christofi raised just under $80,000

Personal life

Chris became a father to Alec on January 23rd of 2003, with then fiancé Melanie.

Chris later married Billie in February 2011, and had three children together; Gisele, Penelope and Mila. They would later separate in September of 2022 and divorce in December 2023. [4] [2]

Awards and recognition

Published works

Books

Audiobooks

Podcasts

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Property investor counts costs of buying off the plan as value slumps by 29pc". Australian Financial Review. 13 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Chris Christofi: From Cyprus scratchies to property empire". www.realestate.com.au.
  3. ↑ "Chris' Story - Chris Christofi". 8 July 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "From Cyprus to Geelong: the property investor with plans to battle Australian poverty, brick by brick". Surf Coast Times. 4 November 2020.
  5. ↑ https://timesnewsgroup.com.au/surfcoasttimes/real-estate/from-cyprus-to-geelong-the-property-investor-with-plans-to-battle-australian-poverty-brick-by-brick/%7Cname=From Cyprus To Geelong
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Reventon's Chris Christofi talks with the V.B.S.A" (PDF). snooker.org.au. July 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2022.
  7. ↑ https://www.realestate.com.au/news/chris-christofi-from-cyprus-scratchies-to-property-empire/%7Cname=From Cyrpus Scratchies to Property Empire
  8. 1 2 "Timeline - Chris Christofi". 8 July 2020.
  9. ↑ Ogg, Matt; Simmons, David; Faint, Paris; Jansen, Camilla. "Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs: 61 70". Business News Australia. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  10. ↑ Simmons, David. "Melbourne's game changers to gather for the Young Entrepreneur Awards 2019". Business News Australia. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Snooker In Australia". World Snooker. 18 March 2021. Archived from the original on 18 March 2021.
  12. ↑ "About Us - YBSC". www.ybsc.net.au.
  13. ↑ "Sourav Kothari bags Reventon Classic snooker meet | More sports News - Times of India". The Times of India. 10 June 2019.
  14. ↑ "Over $10,000 raised by Reventon for White Ribbon Foundation - YBSC". www.ybsc.net.au.
  15. ↑ Καμπυλη, Μαρια Α (14 June 2019). ""Μια νύχτα δεν είναι αρκετή, αλλά μπορεί να κάνει τη διαφορά"". ΝΕΟΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΣ.
  16. 1 2 "2018-2018 Philanthropy Report" (PDF). Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Australia.
  17. ↑ "Homelessness 'could happen to anybody'". 18 June 2020 – via www.themercury.com.au.
  18. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chris-christofi_chris-christofis-fourth-vinnies-ceo-sleepout-activity-6823432484705980416-dY3f/%7Ctitle Chris Christofi Completes Fourth CEO Sleepout
  19. ↑ "Chris Christofi". CEO SLEEPOUT.
  20. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u7Hpk0c9Hk%7Ctitle=Reventon's founder and CEO Chris Christofi takes part in his 6th Vinnies CEO Sleepout
  21. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRMMye11lCc%7Ctitle=Lead With Kindness 2022 - Creative Cubes Podcast
  22. ↑ Καμπυλη, Μαρια Α (9 October 2019). "Ο ομογενής επιχειρηματίας Chris Christofi στους φιναλίστ του βραβείου Νέος Επιχειρηματίας της Χρονιάς". ΝΕΟΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΣ.
  23. ↑ "Australia's top 100 young entrepreneurs 2018".
  24. ↑ "Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs 2019: 61-70".
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