ChrisBALL

A Short Biography of Chris Ball

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Christopher Patrick Ball is the co-owner of ArenaCAD USA, Honorary Hungarian Consul for the State of Connecticut, and Director of the Central European Institute (CEI) at Quinnipiac University where he also holds the Istvan Szechenyi Chair in International Economics.

 

The CEI builds bridges between the United States and the nations of Central Europe by fostering relationships in academics, business and culture.  Ball built the CEI from scratch and developed an over $4 million endowment to support its activities.

 

Ball serves as the Honorary Hungarian Consul for Connecticut where he promotes bi-lateral business relations with Hungary.  In 2011, he led and co-founded CEENET Inc., a private organization of Connecticut professionals promoting international business relations between Connecticut and Central and Eastern Europe, organizing trade visits, business matching events and general business networking events.  From 2013 – 2016 Ball was the Vice President of Operations and New Business Development for Light Sources Inc., a multinational specialty lighting company headquartered in Orange, CT, with offices in Hungary and China and sales worldwide.  Light Sources has over 1,000 employees worldwide. Ball oversaw all North American operations, reporting directly to the CEO, and continues as an executive consultant to the company today.  In 2016 Ball left Light Sources to return to academia full time. He converted CEENET into a boutique consulting firm that helps international companies (mostly, but not exclusively, from Central and Eastern Europe) establish themselves in the US market.  CEENET helped ArenaCAD (www.arenacad.ro) enter the US market in 2017 and in 2018 Ball became co-owner and manager of ArenaCAD USA (www.arenacad.com).  CEENET is currently closed to new clients.

 

Ball has been with Quinnipiac University since 2003.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, studied a semester at the London School of Economics, and earned his Ph.D. in International Macroeconomics at Texas A&M University.  From 1994-1998 he lived in Budapest, Hungary where he was Program Director for the Hungarian Atlantic Council working on NATO expansion in the region and then as a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs writing about economic development in the region.  He regularly writes academic papers that are published in journals such as Applied Economics Letters, The Journal of Macroeconomics, and The International Journal of Finance and Economics.  He has also written on various topics in the Hartford Courant, New Haven Register, CATO Regulation Magazine and the New York Times. He is fluent in Hungarian and has a basic knowledge of German, Polish and Romanian. He is 48 years old and lives in Middletown, CT, with his wife and two children