ABOUT CHRIS A. VARONES
Chris A. Varones is Founder and Principal of Aesop Communications Group, a communications consulting firm dedicated to the idea that clients with good stories can do great things.
Chris has more than 22 years of experience managing high-profile communications campaigns aimed at lawmakers, regulators, voters, and employees on behalf of corporations, employers and political candidates.
Throughout his career, Chris managed several advocacy campaigns including ones to pass immigration reform, support renewable fuels, crack down on prescription drug abuse, and protect a national defense program. Chris also has experience in managing community outreach campaigns including one to secure federal regulatory approval for a controversial railroad acquisition, a contentious divestiture of an electric utility, and an enrollment campaign for Head Start on behalf of the City of Chicago. Chris maintains key relationships in the news media from his campaign experiences as well as from having represented several Fortune 500 companies including Ford, Merrill-Lynch, and Bank of America among others. Before founding Aesop, Chris developed his expertise working at a number of respected public relations agencies including the MWW Group, Hill & Knowlton, and Burson-Marsteller, where he was a Director of the Public Affairs Practice. Prior to his agency career, Chris served as Assistant Press Secretary for the House Minority Leader in the Illinois General Assembly. There, Chris acted as spokesman for several state representatives and as the communications director for two highly competitive, successful State House campaigns in the Chicago area.
Chris received a B.A. in political science and history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, Chris is a Graduate Student-at-Large at the University of Chicago, a board member of HFS Chicago Scholars and a member of the Metropolis Council of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago. He is a frequent guest panelist on the nationally syndicated radio program "Beyond the Beltway" as well as WGN-AM and CLTV and a guest lecturer of college students pursuing careers in communications.