Christopher M. Schroeder

Christopher M. Schroeder (born July 28, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, advisor and investor in interactive technologies and social communications.

He has written the first look at startups in the Arab World, “Startup Rising -- The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East” published in August 2013 by MacMillan/Palgrave, with a foreword by Marc Andreessen.

Early life and education

Schroeder was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and raised in Scarsdale. His parents are Edmund R. Schroeder (formerly of Cadwalader) and Elaine Diserio Schroeder. Edmund Schroeder is the founder of Education Through Music, which offers music programs to inner city schools.^[1] Elaine Schroeder began college at age 14 and Fordham Law School at 18, and practiced law in New York City. His mother was active in, and chairman of, the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York.

Schroeder graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in American and Ancient History (where he studied with Lincoln scholar David Herbert Donald) and international diplomacy historian Ernest May. He subsequently graduated with Honors from Harvard Business School. Shroeder worked in finance for Salomon Brothers and the private equity firm Thayer Capital Partners, and was Treasurer and head of business development for The Washington Post Company.

Career

Investing & technology

Schroeder became CEO and President of Legi-Slate, Inc., a leading online B2B provider of information on federal and state legislation and regulation. Backed by The Washington Post Company, he successfully sold the enterprise in 1999. He then was named CEO and Publisher of washingonpost.newsweek interactive^[2] (which hosted washingtonpost.com and newsweek.com among other news and information sites). Upon attaining profitability, he joined an investor group including Polaris Ventures, Sequoia Capital, The Carlyle Group, Allen & Company LLC, and Interactive Corp (IAC) to become CEO of HealthCentral, among the largest collection of condition and wellness-specific interactive experiences focused on people finding and sharing real-life experiences related to their health needs. HealthCentral^[3] was recently named one of the Inc 500/5000 fastest growing private companies in the United States. He has invested in and advised a series of start-ups in related areas including FiveStarAlliance, SBNation.com, run by former AOL executive Jim Bankoff, and CareeerCore.com, a career navigation online tool kit and destination.

Schroeder has been a thought leader and organizer in various internet organizations. He was one of the first board members of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a co-founder of the Online Publishers Association, now called Digital Content Next, and founding member of the Digital Health Coalition. He was one of the first interactive executives named to the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Hall of Achievement, among the top tech business executives to watch by Business Forward Magazine, Media Magazine and Washingtonian Magazine. He was named PharmaVOICE’s Top 100 Most Inspiring People in Life Sciences.

Schroeder has also recently been engaged in exploring more global trends towards entrepreneurship, with a special focus on the developing world and the Middle East. He has been a speaker on trends in global entrepreneurship for the COE 2010 gathering of regional entrepreneurs and investors in Dubai, Endeavor’s gathering of global entrepreneurs and the Abraaj Capital annual meeting. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the American University of Cairo School of Business and Oasis500, a leading incubator committed to funding 500 start-ups in Jordan.

He has written and spoken extensively on trends in media, the internet and global environment for The Washington Post,^[4][5] Newsweek,^[6] Wall Street Journal, AllThingsD,^[7] Fortune Magazine,^[8] C-SPAN^[9] and TechCrunch^[10]

Public policy, politics, and business

Schroeder served in leading management roles in President George Bush’s 1988 and 1992 election campaigns, and worked on Secretary of State James A. Baker’s staff with then Under Secretary (and currently President of the World Bank) Robert Zoellick. He has supported and advised other centrist political candidates in policy and internet related issues.

He has served in the advisory gathering for the Small Business Administration’s efforts to support entrepreneurship leading to Startup America, and the Brookings entrepreneurship committee for their annual gathering on US Islam relations. He is on the advisory boards of the Center for New America Security (CNAS), where he also wrote a paper on the economic risks of cyber/network security, Business Executives for National Security (BENS), and George Washington University’s interactive/media initiative on the environment, Planet Forward.

Schroeder actively supports our veterans, including Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an online community for returning veterans and lobbying groups for veteran issues.

He is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, French American Foundation and American Council on Germany. He is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization and involved in an offshoot group building connections between the US and Middle East CEOs and entrepreneurs.

Personal life

Schroeder is married to Alexandra Coburn, whom he met at Harvard. They have three children: Jack, Julia and Ben.^[11]

Schroeder has been a judge for the Mitchell Scholarship, The French-American Foundation's Young Leaders program^[12] and The American Council on Germany Hunt Fellowship.^[13]

He advises the National Gallery of Art on Internet issues and communications and has been involved with the Arena Stage, National Cathedral School, and Harvard.^[14]

References