Our Team

Principals

Chris and Ale met in business school in 2019, and quickly became close friends. They have worked in roles across healthcare, finance, retail, e-commerce and technology, and their responsibilities have spanned business functions including engineering, sales, strategy and finance. They are passionate about impactful, exciting businesses with strong cultures — and launched Pineway together in 2024 to pursue that very passion.

Chris Aholt

Throughout his life and career, Chris has found the most joy in his endeavors through finding creative solutions to challenging problems and cultivating meaningful, lasting relationships with customers, clients and colleagues.

He began his career as an R&D engineer for Smith & Nephew, where he learned about product development and launch within the confines of the highly regulated medical device industry. Keen to learn more about the commercial side of the business, he joined Stryker Orthopedics in 2016 to help manage and grow a sales territory through long-term partnership with surgeons and hospital leadership. Chris later spent three great years at J.P. Morgan in New York City, advising healthcare clients across a variety of transactions and strategic considerations including M&A, capital raising, and capital structure optimization.

In his free time, Chris stays active and can often be found beating Ale in tennis or golf (see below). He also plays the classical piano and has a small art business that he maintains as a hobby. Having grown up in Singapore and the west coast of the U.S., Chris is passionate about traveling and new adventures.

Chris holds a B.S. in Bioengineering from Stanford University and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Alessandro Rapanà

Ale is passionate about creating valuable products and services, with the goal of putting customers first and treating employees as family. Like Chris, he grew up in a family deeply involved in the small and medium business world — admiring the grit and resilience of hard-working people.

He started his career at McKinsey & Co, helping clients solve complex strategy and corporate finance problems. He later pivoted to Amazon, where he had the chance to lead a $40M business in the consumer electronics category. Driven by his desire to fulfill his American dream, Ale moved to Boston in 2019 for business school. After that, he joined the Boston Consulting Group in New York City, where he spent his time advising companies in a wide range of industries, including Private Equity, Tech, Healthcare and Consumer.

Outside of work, you can catch Ale competing in triathlons, often seen running along the West Side Highway or biking through New Jersey. As a music enthusiast, he’s also the guitarist in a three-person rock band. His attempts to recruit Chris, a classical music aficionado, have led to some amusing creative clashes (see below).

Ale holds a B.S. and M.S. in Finance from Bocconi University in Milan, and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Investors

Pineway is backed by a team of proven entrepreneurs, experienced operators, and institutional investors with successful track records of scaling first-class businesses. These investors have first-hand experiences acquiring, managing, and growing companies across a variety of sectors. They have committed to supporting Chris and Ale in their pursuit of a great business.