Chris Blandy - 2017 President

"Chris Blandy was born on the island of Madeira in 1979. As was the case with many English families living abroad, Chris studied in England from prep school up to university. After achieving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, he joined the marketing department at the Symington Family Estate in Porto for a 2 year period, focusing on the Madeira wine business.
Chris then moved to Washington DC and worked at the Willard Inter Continental Hotel, ending his 2 year spell there as the hotel’s diplomatic liaison manager, dealing with the visiting foreign dignitaries.

Chris has always had a strong link with Madeira and in March 2007, he joined the family business.
In 2010 he became the Managing Director of the Travel and Shipping Division and a full member of the Blandy Group board at the end of 2010. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Porto Bay, the family’s hotel group, and of the Madeira Wine Company.
During the family’s bicentennial year in 2011, the Family agreed with the Symington Family to take back the majority shareholding of the Madeira Wine Company and in September, Chris took over the role of CEO of the company. “It was quite daunting taking over the year in which the Blandy’s Madeira not only celebrated its bicentennial anniversary, but also the first time since 1989 that my family had control of the company. 200 years of history certainly increases the weight of responsibility, but I have found that Madeira wine as a whole is experiencing an exciting growth and with the right team in place, I hope to help reinvent the Madeira market and to set the base for future generations to come.”

Chris is married with 2 children (twins) and is interested in a whole range of sports, including rugby, hiking and fishing.