J. Christopher Reyes Biography

Cristopher Reyes is the Chairman of Reyes Holdings, a beer and food distribution holding company, which includes the Martin-Brower Company, McDonald's's largest distributor .

Biography

Early life

J. Christopher Reyes was born in 1954. He graduated from the University of Maryland and began working at a small beer distribution business that he purchased with his brother and father in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Career

He is an American businessman who together with his brother M. Jude Reyes, is Co-Chairman of Reyes Holdings Reyes Holdings ranked by Forbes Magazine in 2012 as the 14th largest privately held company in the United States. Reyes Holdings is the holding company for the Martin-Brower Company, Reinhart Foodservice and Reyes Beverage Group which includes Premium Distributors of Virginia, Chicago Beverage Systems, California's Harbor Distributing and Windy City Distributing among other beer distribution businesses in the US. In 1998 Reyes expanded beyond beer distribution with the purchase of The Martin-Brower Company a dedicated McDonald's distribution business operating primarily in the US. Since 1998 Martin Brower has been involved in more than 15 transactions, most notably the acquisition of Keystone Foods McDonalds distribution business from Marfrig Alimentos, S.A. in 2012. Martin Brower is now the largest supplier worldwide of distribution services to the McDonald's restaurant system serving nearly one-half of the McDonald's restaurants in the world. In 2005, Reyes acquired Reinhart Foodservice, L.L.C., the fifth largest broadline foodservice distributor in the United States with operations in 12 cities in the upper Midwest. Since then, Reinhart has completed more than 25 transactions with operations in 27 cities and 34 states. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and a member of the Board of Trustees for Ronald McDonald House Charities. He also sits on the Advisory Board of the Edgewater Funds. From 2005 to 2007, he was a Director of the Tribune Company. He is also a former Director of General Dynamics. Dean Foods, the Wintrust Financial Corporation, Allstate and Lake Forest Bank and Trust.

Philanthropy

He sits on the Board of Trustees of the Ronald McDonald House Charities and is Chairman of Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. He sits on the Board of Directors for Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, the Northwestern Memorial Foundation, the Steppenwolf Theater Company, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Big Shoulders Fund, the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, After School Matters, the University of Notre Dame, and the Lake Forest Academy. He is also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and a Board member of World Business Chicago.

Political donations

A Republican, he has donated $25,250 to former Illinois Lieutenant Governor Corinne Wood. From 1994 to 2007, he donated $80,200 to the Illinois Republican Party and the Lake County Republican Party committees. He also donated $100,000 to Two Party System, Inc., a Republican PAC.

Personal life

As of September 2011, he is the 651st richest person in the world, and the 212 richest in the United States, with an estimated wealth of US$2 billion. In 2010, he bought a 44-acre house in Aspen, Colorado for $47.5 million. He is married, with four children. He lives in Lake Forest, Illinois.