Christopher M. Schroeder is a leading entrepreneur and venture investor in interactive technologies and social communications in the U.S. and in emerging growth markets. He the former Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Silicon Valley-backed HealthCentral.com, one of the largest social and content platforms for health in wellness, sold in 2012. He was formerly the CEO of washingtonpost.newsweek interactive and LegiSlate.com.
Mr. Schroeder is an investor and advisor for a series of technology startups and funds ranging from news and media, education, social networks, and marketing. He is also engaged in exploring more global trends toward entrepreneurship, with a special focus on emerging growth markets, including the Middle East, South East Asia, and Latin America. He is the author of the bestselling Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East and speaks, writes, and is on-air regularly on these issues across global media. He is one of the first 50 Influencers on LinkedIn.
Prior to joining The Washington Post, Mr. Schroeder was a Partner with Thayer Capital Partners, a leading private equity company in Washington, DC, and with the investment bank Salomon Brothers in New York, focusing on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions projects for a wide range of Fortune 500 companies. He has also had extensive government experience, serving in leading management roles in President George Bush’s 1988 and 1992 election campaigns, and working on Secretary of State James A. Baker’s staff with then-Under Secretary (and later President of the World Bank) Robert Zoellick.
Mr. Schroeder serves on the boards of the German Marshall Fund and American University of Beirut, and Advisory Boards of the American University School of International Service, and Endeavor Global, among other organizations. He also serves on the board of several tech startups and advises venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. He is on the Investment Committee of one of the leading venture capital firms in MENA, Wamda Capital. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and with honors from Harvard Business School. He was a Young Leader in 1991.