Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner – Chantilly Investment Partners
MBA, The Wharton School · AB (with Honors), Harvard University
BIOGRAPHY
Charlie Santos-Buch has spent more than four decades at the intersection of institutional capital markets and operating leadership — first as a senior investment banker and private equity professional involved in more than $30 billion in financings and M&A transactions, and now as an active operator and independent sponsor acquiring and building businesses in the lower middle market.
His career spans the full transaction lifecycle: originating and evaluating opportunities, structuring complex capital solutions across the capital stack, managing lender and investor relationships, and serving on the boards of operating companies through periods of growth, repositioning, and exit. That breadth — from deal desk to boardroom to day-to-day operating leadership — is uncommon. It is also exactly what the lower middle market requires.
Charlie co-founded Chantilly because he saw a clear gap: a lower middle market full of excellent, founder-built businesses that needed a buyer who would actually show up and do the work after the transaction closed. He built the firm to fill that gap — one transaction at a time.
“I’ve spent forty years structuring deals. The most valuable thing I’ve learned is that the transaction is the easy part. What you build after is what actually matters.”
CAREER
Chantilly Investment Partners — Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner
Leads transaction origination, capital markets strategy, investor and lender engagement, and board-level strategic oversight. Partners directly with founders and management teams to execute disciplined acquisitions and drive long-term enterprise value. Active board member across current portfolio.
Compact Container Systems — Chairman & CEO
Executive leadership and strategic direction for an industrial operating company delivering containerized and logistics solutions. Oversees corporate strategy, capital allocation, and governance.
Intermodal Container Group, LLC — Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner
Co-founded an operating company focused on the sale and management of intermodal shipping containers. Strategic leadership in a capital-intensive logistics environment.
AE Industrial Partners — Partner / Operating Partner
Transaction origination, execution oversight, and portfolio governance for a leading aerospace, defense, and industrial private equity firm.
UBS AG / PaineWebber — Founder, Financial Sponsor Coverage
Founded Financial Sponsor Coverage Groups at both institutions. Led sponsor-focused origination, capital markets execution, and senior lender and investor relationships across the capital structure. Built the institutional relationships that anchor Chantilly’s capital markets capability today.
CIBC · Oppenheimer · Alex. Brown · Kidder Peabody
Senior leveraged finance and financial sponsor coverage roles spanning two decades — building a career-long network of private equity, lender, and institutional relationships across multiple market cycles.
EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS
- $30+ billion in sponsor-backed financings, M&A transactions, and recapitalizations
- Structured complex leveraged and hybrid capital solutions across market cycles
- Board member and governance advisor to operating companies across industrial and logistics sectors
- Long-standing relationships with private equity sponsors, senior lenders, and institutional investors
- Active operating executive in current portfolio companies alongside investment responsibilities