Founder's Story: Meet Chris
How did Devices come together? What prompted you to join the founding team?
Jay called me about a minute after he got on the phone with Tom. I grew up in very rural parts of Oregon and California without a lot of the things that people take for granted. I was the first person in my extended family to attend college and saw firsthand how education changed where I am today: working in Silicon Valley, stable housing, secure job. Google was one of the first companies to extend the work from home order to their employees; I watched from safety as schools were shut and the economy slowed. I felt helpless not being able to do anything to help my community through this time. I’ve volunteered with Spark for many years and have seen how formulative middle and high school years are to a child’s well being, both for their psychologically safety and for their future success. It was an easy decision to throw my support behind the goal of providing technology for schools and students.
How did the team and roles evolve?
Jay and I have been close friends since college and share a similar background. He called me with the opportunity because I have a lot of experience operationalizing and scaling national and international programs in my day job. For the first few days, we wore every hat from website designer to accountant and Partnerships with foundations, corporate donors, nonprofits and educators. The main focus of my role has since evolved to work on operational strategy and scaling our organization to make a material impact on the hundreds of thousands of students that are being left behind.
Why is education important to you?
Education is the key to economic and social advancement. It is a window into a life that we wouldn’t be able to imagine without it. I owe my current (pretty awesome) life entirely to a few high school teachers that inspired me to go to college and helped me find scholarships to pay for it.
What has been the most exciting part of the project for you personally so far?
I love being on the emails where we tell schools and families that yes these laptops are yours to keep, and no, you don’t owe us anything. It feels really good to be able to help a family in need, especially knowing that, except for a few fortuitous events in my life, that family we are helping could have just as easily have been my own.
What is something we wouldn’t know about you?
I love to cook - I am a 3 year Santa Cruz Chilli cook-off medalist (shout out to team Oink and Moo!) and last year my team won first place! I am a big outdoors guy, last year Jay and I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.
