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Christopher Gergen, Co-Founder

Christopher Gergen is a founding partner of New Mountain Ventures, an entrepreneurial leadership development company, and co-author of Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008). Additionally, Christopher is a visiting lecturer and Director of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative at Duke University within the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy's Hart Leadership Program.

Christopher is the co-founder and chairman of SMARTHINKING, the leading online tutoring provider in the United States—serving over 200,000 students from more than 1,000 universities, colleges, and high schools. Other entrepreneurial ventures include starting a coffeehouse/bar dedicated to promoting the arts and music in Santiago, Chile and helping to launch the "Entrepreneur Corps"—a national service initiative sponsored by AmeriCorps*VISTA that placed 400 full-time business volunteers for a year of service in over 90 non-profit organizations across the country. Previously, Christopher started LEAD!, a non-profit leadership, entrepreneurship, and service program for Gonzaga College high school students in Washington, D.C. and is a founding board member of the E.L. Haynes Public Charter School also in D.C.

Further professional experience includes serving as Vice President of New Market Development for K12 Inc. and Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Business Development and Strategy for New American Schools. Christopher received a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Duke University, a Master's Degree in Public Policy from the George Washington University, and his M.B.A. from Georgetown University. He lives with his wife and two children in Washington, D.C.

When he's not at work, Christopher can be found competing in triathlons and playing Ultimate Frisbee with a team in D.C., traveling the world (including past adventures creating literacy programs in South Africa, teaching on a sheep-farm in New Zealand, and hitching a ride on a Chilean naval vessel), oil painting, and hiking through Rock Creek Park with his family including Mango the Big Dog.