Christopher Merrill (businessman)

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Christopher Merrill (born 1971) is the co-founder and Global CEO of Harrison Street Asset Management, [1] [2] [3] a real estate, infrastructure, and private credit investment management firm that he established with former Motorola Inc. chairman and CEO Chris Galvin and his brother Michael Galvin [4] in 2005. [5] [6]

Early life

Merrill was born in Okinawa, Japan, in 1971, where his father was serving as a doctor in the Army. [7] Shortly after his birth the family returned to Illinois. [8]

Career

Merrill started his career at global real estate investment management firm Heitman, where he launched Heitman’s first foreign investment fund, [9] and eventually became a partner and managing director. [2]  

After living in London for five years, Merrill returned to Chicago in 2005 to establish Harrison Street together with Chris Glavin and his brother Michael, who provided the seed money. In 2018, Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI) purchased the Galvin’s interests in Harrison Street. [10] In July 2025, Colliers announced that it would rebrand its entire investment management division as Harrison Street Asset Management and appointed Merrill as Global CEO, thereby making him the largest individual shareholder at the time. [11]

  1. "News & Announcements". Horatio Alger. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  2. 1 2 "Roanoke College Board of Trustees welcomes new member". www.roanoke.edu. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  3. "Colliers rebrands investment management division as Harrison Street Asset Management". Institutional Real Estate, Inc. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  4. "Michael P. Galvin". www.csis.org. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  5. "Galvins cash out of Harrison Street in $550 million deal". Crain's Chicago Business. 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  6. Vardi, Nathan. "Real Estate For The Ages". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  7. "News & Announcements". Horatio Alger. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  8. "News & Announcements". Horatio Alger. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  9. "Head of Harrison Street taking a contrarian view". Crain's Chicago Business. 2007-03-29. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  10. "Colliers International acquires controling stake in Harrison Street Real Estate – REJournals". rejournals.com. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
  11. "Colliers rebrands and reorganizes investment management division".{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)