Chris Walton, JD

Chris Walton, JD, is President and CEO and co-founded Eton Venture Services in 2010 to provide mission-critical valuations to private companies. He leads a team that collaborates closely with each client’s leadership, board of directors, internal / external counsel, and independent auditors to develop detailed financial models and create accurate, audit-ready valuations.

Chris has led thousands of valuations, including for equity securities, intangible assets, contingent considerations, financial instruments, investment valuations, convertible debt, business valuations for tax compliance purposes and financial reporting compliance requirements, as well as fairness and solvency opinions.

He started his career as an attorney at Gunderson Dettmer, a Silicon Valley law firm, where he specialized in corporate securities and M&A transactions. After transitioning from law firms to corporate management, Chris held leadership positions at two venture-backed startup companies.

At Eton, Chris’s expertise is in providing advisory guidance and valuing complex financial assets, across diverse sectors, from equity securities to business valuations for tax compliance purposes and financial reporting requirements. His expertise also includes fairness and solvency opinions, expert witness work, and handling shareholder disputes.

Chris leads a team of seasoned professionals with extensive valuation expertise and Big Four accounting firm experience. His advisory expertise, quantitative knowledge, and leadership have positioned him as a trusted figure in valuation and corporate advisory services, with the majority of Eton’s business originating from referrals from the largest corporate law firms in the country.

Chris earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies (Honors) from the University of Washington, Seattle, graduating Summa Cum Laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He holds a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in Palo Alto, California. He is a member of the California Bar Association, as well as the AICPA, ASA, and the NACVA.