Mission-Minded
Leadership

Strategy, operations, and marketing leadership for organizations where the mission matters.

Built for This Work

I chose to complete a combined MBA + Peace Corps program because I believe mission-driven organizations can benefit from the operating discipline and organizational best practices from the private sector.

I've spent two decades building on that foundation — leading strategy, operations and marketing across nonprofits, Fortune 500 companies, and mission-driven startups.

Discipline

I bring for-profit discipline and management standards so nonprofits can execute efficiently while being exceptional stewards of resources.

Impact

I deliver measurable outcomes: non-profit earned income growth, higher performing teams, and organizational sustainability — while building the culture that makes those outcomes last.

Leadership

I'm a hands-on servant leader who earns trust across stakeholders, from frontline staff to board members, funders, and executive teams.

“Chris is an exceptional strategic and operational leader and helped us transform our marketing function for higher performance and growth.”

Dana Dufresne

Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Fair Trade USA

How I Lead

I've enabled a $30M fundraise for a corporate turnaround, rebuilt a nonprofit's impact messaging from the ground up, and doubled revenue for a women's social enterprise in Kyrgyzstan. None of those happened the same way yet all of them required the same things:

Build

great teams, processes

and operational discipline

Measure

the outcomes that matter

for people, programs, and partners

Scale

systems and relationships that

further the mission

AI Spotlight

I have been building AI-assisted workflows since 2019 to improve productivity and performance across operations and marketing teams. I use AI to amplify team capabilities and create more space for the human work that actually moves organizations forward: relationships, judgment, and creativity. The best AI implementation does not replace people. It frees them to do their highest-value work.

I use Claude, Riverside, Jasper, Gamma and Pomelli to test, run, and deliver productivity improvements and have reduced time-to-create from days to hours for content workflows.

Case Study: High Impact Messaging

Problem:

A nonprofit client needed to retain key partners by telling their story more effectively

Work:

I leveraged best practice for-profit messaging and content strategy to clearly articualte the value of partnership

Result:

Retained over $3 million of partner accounts

Fair Trade USA is the leading nonprofit certification partner for businesses that want to drive meaningful social and environmental impact. Yet key partners needed to see – and believe in – the business case for growing their partnership.

I refined a 100-slide presentation to 10 key slides and trained the sales team to deliver powerful messaging that told a compelling story for partnership.

What I Bring

Discipline

Two decades of showing up, doing the work, and finishing what I start — across corporate pivots, nonprofit turnarounds and high growth startups.

Execution

Strategy starts and stops with execution. I close the gap between vision and results and build the systems, teams, and workflows that make it happen.

Collaboration

The best outcomes come from rooms where everyone's seat matters. I quickly build trust across levels, functions, and teams.

Impact

I measure success by what changes: Lives improved. Stakeholders impacted. Revenue growth. Organizations transformed.

Focus

Mission-based organizations can get distracted and spread thin. I keep teams focused on what matters – and keep them focused.