Chris Halligan

Chris Halligan was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.

Sportswriting at the Wildcat was as much fun as a job can be.

Sit in the Arizona Stadium press box? Check. Talk to the players and coaches? Check. Hang out in the Hillenbrand sun while watching the softball team crush someone? Check. Cover your friends at intramural games on Bear Down Field? Check.

In the late 80′s, Reuters was the Internet. You could read about everything. The newsroom walls featured “autographed” wire photos of celebrities. There was a computer we could use (this was a big deal). And we were getting paid.

The best part? The people. Sheila McNulty, when not touching the third rail of Lute criticism, mostly left sports alone and had an engaging sense of humor. Tony Kuttner tolerated mountains of nonsense and had an excellent nickname. John Moredich was John Moredich (which is a good thing). Todd Pletcher made occasional appearances.

But there was more: Substantial dialogue about campus culture. Spirited debates about meaningful issues. Good writing everywhere you turned.

Why did I leave again?

Chris Halligan is an experienced, successful technology executive and entrepreneur.

Upon graduating from the University of Arizona in 1989, Chris joined the Dell Computer Corporation where he worked for 10 years, both in Austin, Texas, and Tokyo.  He was Dell’s Salesman of the Year in 1991 and then held several sales and marketing management positions, culminating in responsibility for over $2B per year in commercial revenues conducted over the Internet in 1999.

Following Dell, Chris ran North America for webMethods during a period highlighted by explosive revenue growth and the firm’s IPO — one of the most successful in software history.  He then became part owner of Mascot Books, a leader in self publishing for children’s authors, and co-founded Kieden, a software startup which was purchased by salesforce.com in 2006.

Most recently, Chris was Chief Executive Officer for PokerTek (nasdaq: ptek), a Matthews, N.C., based gaming company and the world leader in automated poker technology.  During his tenure, PokerTek grew from $4M to $13M in annual revenues in just two years.

Currently Chris is the CEO of a tech startup called OtherScreen, serves on the board of Mascot Books, and is a co-founder of Charlotte Regional Technology Executives.  He is married to Sarah and has three cool kids who attend Providence Day School in Charlotte. While at the Daily Wildcat in the late 1980s, Chris was a sportswriter.