Christopher Ballard

Christopher Ballard, CFA, is a research analyst at Polen Capital Management LLC in Boston, Massachusetts, where he has served since July 2020. In this capacity, he focuses on the firm’s U.S. Small Company Growth and Global SMID (small- and mid-cap) Company Growth strategies, conducting deep fundamental research, portfolio construction, and long-term investment analysis with an emphasis on risk management and selecting high-quality growth companies.

His investment coverage spans a broad array of sectors within the small- and mid-cap universe, including Financials and Consumer Discretionary, and he applies a generalist approach to companies demonstrating strong organic revenue growth, durable margins, and robust ESG (environmental, social, and governance) profiles. Ballard is particularly engaged in identifying durable, competitively advantaged businesses in high-growth segments of public equities.

Prior to joining Polen Capital, Ballard worked as an Investment Analyst at Long Path Partners and as an International Research Associate at Veritable, LP, with experience in manager research for U.S. and international public equities. He holds an MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a BA in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, evidencing strong quantitative and analytical expertise; he is also a CFA charterholder and an active member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Boston.