Christian Charnaux is Chief Development Officer for Hilton, where he leads the company’s development, architecture, and design & construction functions globally. Christian rejoined Hilton in July 2025. He previously held various leadership positions with the company in the areas of brand management, commercial services, and finance from 2009 to 2018. As Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance, Christian oversaw Hilton’s capital markets, mergers & acquisitions, and investor relations functions.
Prior to rejoining Hilton, Christian served as Chief Growth Officer for Inspire Brands, a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 33,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC restaurants worldwide. In this role, Christian led Inspire’s inorganic growth and integration efforts, including over $18 billon of acquisitions, and oversaw the company’s restaurant development, international, supply chain, government affairs & impact, and foundation teams.
Previously, Christian was with the Boston Consulting Group where he focused on the travel and consumer product sectors. He also worked for J.P. Morgan in the technology and mergers & acquisitions investment banking groups.
Christian is an alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar and later received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Christian currently serves as Vice Chair of Georgia’s Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, on the Board of Carolina Alumni, and on the University of North Carolina Board of Visitors.