With over 30 years of leadership in the fields of philanthropy and finance, Chris Gabriel is uniquely able to advise on the topic of inspired and effective giving using a process he personally created: WISEgenerosity.

After earning his bachelor’s degree with honors from Yale and a master’s degree from Oxford, Chris began his career serving charitable organizations and their donors as a development director. He later became a nonprofit finance and fundraising consultant and a guide for successful charitable givers. Over time, he has participated in the gift process from every vantage point as a donor, staffer, board member, and financial advisor.

Chris currently oversees a thriving wealth management practice at one of the country’s leading investment firms and is a Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®), a designation sponsored by the Investments & Wealth InstituteTM through the Wharton School of Business. As a financial advisor, Chris empowers the individuals and institutions he serves to accomplish their most important goals today and in years to come.

Optimal Giving is a focus of Chris’s work, uniquely combining philosophy and finance. Through experiences and decades of research and relationships, Chris has developed a framework that unlocks the potential of generosity. In order for individuals and organizations to experience the full power of giving, it must be W.I.S.E.: Well-grounded, Inspired, Satisfying, and Effective.

Chris’s mission is to help others benefit from generosity as an essential virtue of a life well-lived. His principles demonstrate why purposeful and practical planning is needed to maximize the generational impact of giving and its benefits to individuals, families, and institutions. With these goals in mind, Chris shares transformational resources on his website, through his advisory work, and in his book, WISEgenerosity, released in 2024.

Chris has engaged actively in volunteer and pro bono work for many nonprofits including several terms as a board member and then president of the Georgia Planned Giving Council, as a trustee of Trinity School in Atlanta (a preeminent early education institution), and as a development and financial consultant to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He is a current and longtime board member  (and past president) at City of Refuge (a nationally renowned urban mission bringing light, hope, and transformation to those living on the margin), and is a teacher and lay leader at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church.

Chris is the recipient of the prestigious 2025 Greater Good Award, presented by the Georgia Planned Giving Council. This annual award recognizes an outstanding member of the Georgia professional philanthropic community whose career is spent advising and advocating charitable individuals and organizations to increase the quantity and quality of planned gifts while consistently demonstrating an overall personal commitment to giving and the greater good.

Chris’s personal interests include cycling, music, history, cooking, paddleboarding, and golf. He enjoys spending time in all arenas with his wife, Courtenay, and college-aged children, Ellie and Reed. Their two “tiny-dog” family members, Baxter and Franklin, usually are close by, and often are underfoot.