Christopher van Bergen
Kirkwood,MO
Summary
Executive leader with deep experience driving organizational success and fostering collaboration. Skilled in strategic planning, financial oversight, and stakeholder engagement. Known for adaptability, resilience, and delivering results in evolving environments. Strong interpersonal skills, effective communicator, and results-driven approach.
Overview
28
28
years of professional experience
Work History
Executive Director
WashU Public Exchange
05.2025 - Current
- Leadership and Strategic Planning — Building an initiative from scratch in a dynamic and resource-constrained environment, with early proven success with funders, implementing partners, and media. Has been able to successfully network the initiative both internally within the academic institution as well as externally with partners and funders.
- Partnership Development — Has brought new corporate and implementing partners to WashU through his work, bringing new opportunities for impact and new ways of building coalitions of supporters. Chris has been able to successfully generate the first formal partnership between WashU and the City of St Louis in recent memory.
- Project Management — Chris has been able to successfully establish new ways of working within a well-established academic institution, creating buy-in across the organization to think differently about project execution and impact. He is bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the work, which has been embraced by both the administration and the academic research teams.
- External Public Relations — Within the first month of launch, Chris was able to secure features in all major news and social media outlets in the St. Louis region.
CFO/COO
Nest, Inc.
01.2011 - Current
- Leadership and Strategic Planning — Directs a team in the delivery of programming across five continents, providing strategic guidance of Nest staff and contractors, as well as acting as the Nest liaison to all artisan business leaders, institutional funders, and brand partners. Creates multi-year plans for organizational growth and operationalizes those plans within the team.
- Financial Oversight and Strategy — Overhaul of operational and financial policies for a rapidly growing organization, accounting for diversified revenue streams, including the incorporation of new earned revenue recognition and expense tracking. Migration of Nest assets to create stronger returns and incorporate an investment strategy with a long-term time horizon. Institute information presentation and management reporting structures that ensure productive information flow across teams in an organization that is experiencing exponential growth both in terms of budget and staffing.
- Operations and Systems Building — Leads operations management for a $6M organization focused on efficiency, effective cross-team collaboration and long-term success. Oversees changes in operations during a scaling period where the staff size grew by 5X.
- Opportunity Assessment and Business Model Development — Plays a key role launching new fee-for-service opportunities, having developed a new earned revenue stream that currently accounts for over 40% of Nest’s current income. This involved identifying market opportunities and the expansion of Nest programming from 8 active artisan partners to 2000+ businesses and 250,000+ workers over the course of 8 years, as well as leading strategic brand relationships including Target, Dell, Williams-Sonoma, Inc., Patagonia and more, working with firm executives, managing multi-year contract negotiations and delivery of projects that work across teams.
- Corporate CSR and Supply Chain Transparency — Led effort to create a revolutionary model of training-first regulatory system for decentralized production models. In less than two years, grew this program from scratch, forming strategic partnerships with global retailers and publicly launching Standards with the United Nations in December 2017 and through a Wall Street Journal exclusive in January 2018.
- Circularity and Sustainability — Expanded programming to include efforts focused on circularity initiatives, including recycled plastics programs through a pilot looking at ocean-bound plastic collection in partnership with major global brands and electronics companies.
- Impact and ESG Reporting — Implemented metrics to demonstrate impact and efficacy of Nest programming on artisan businesses, providing the ability to justify investment into the artisan sector. Works with brands on their CSR and ESG reporting efforts, focusing both on worker wellbeing and environmental initiatives for both internal and external stakeholders.
- Foundation Relations — Deeply involved in the relationships with such Corporate Foundations and Philanthropic Institutions as the Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Clinton Global Initiative, from grant application through impact reporting.
- Project Creation and Management — Shapes both site-specific programming involving multi-year commitments and multiple stakeholders, as well as large projects to address wide-scale issues that act as hurdles for the longterm success of the $700B industry that is global artisan production.
Adjunct Professor, Executive Programs
Washington University, Olin School of Business
01.2021 - Current
- Leads course on Financial Analysis and Budgeting for Nonprofit Executive Leaders
- Acts as a mentor and advisor, providing 1:1 coaching on addressing strategic organizational challenges
Adjunct Professor, Executive MBA, Part-Time and Full-Time MBA Programs
New York University, Stern School of Business
01.2019 - 08.2025
- Leads curricula on the Operations and Strategy Behind Sustainability & Social Impact
- Plays advisory role for students pursuing careers within Corporate Social Responsibility and/or Nonprofit Leadership
- Facilitates dialogue with industry executives within the CSR space
- Researcher of latest trends at the intersection between business and social impact
Consultant, Corporate Training Programs
York University, Stern School of Business
01.2022 - 08.2025
- Facilitation of week-long residencies for budding executives from corporate clients of NYU
- Leads coursework on Executive Leadership and the incorporation of content related to business strategy, operations, cross-functional collaboration, and personnel management
Professional Classical Musician
01.1998 - 01.2012
- As a Professional Trumpet player, regular appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and the Saint Louis Symphony
- Principal Trumpet of Symphony in C for four seasons, led the brass section and worked closely with the Music Director to execute the artistic vision for each performance
- Participated in wide-ranging community outreach, organizing workshops for underserved communities, bringing chamber music into schools, and teaching the next generation of artists
Director of Development & Marketing
Delaware Symphony Orchestra
01.2007 - 01.2011
- Led marketing and development teams of a top-level regional orchestra. The orchestra grew its support base, created its first recording in its 100-year history, and was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award. Drove all fundraising efforts through the cultivation of both individual and institutional donors, including relationship cultivation, solicitation and grant writing and reporting.
- Oversaw operational aspects of the ensemble, including input on programming decisions and management of many rehearsals and performances for a Union-based orchestra with a small staff.
Education
Executive MBA - Strategy, Global Business and Leadership
Leonard N. Stern School of Business
Master of Music - Trumpet Performance
Northwestern University
Bachelor of Arts - Psychology
University of Rochester
Bachelor of Music - Trumpet Performance
Eastman School of Music
Skills
- Community engagement
- Program management
- Strategic planning
- Project management
- Budgeting and Financial Management
- Public Relations
- Fundraising and donor management
Timeline
Executive Director
WashU Public Exchange
05.2025 - Current
Consultant, Corporate Training Programs
York University, Stern School of Business
01.2022 - 08.2025
Adjunct Professor, Executive Programs
Washington University, Olin School of Business
01.2021 - Current
Adjunct Professor, Executive MBA, Part-Time and Full-Time MBA Programs
New York University, Stern School of Business
01.2019 - 08.2025
CFO/COO
Nest, Inc.
01.2011 - Current
Director of Development & Marketing
Delaware Symphony Orchestra
01.2007 - 01.2011
Professional Classical Musician
01.1998 - 01.2012
Master of Music - Trumpet Performance
Northwestern University
Bachelor of Arts - Psychology
University of Rochester
Bachelor of Music - Trumpet Performance
Eastman School of Music
Executive MBA - Strategy, Global Business and Leadership
Leonard N. Stern School of Business
SELECT ACADEMIC AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- 2023Publication of book, “Certifiable: How Businesses Operationalize Responsible Sourcing,” Wiley Publishing
- 2020Authored the essay, “In Consideration of Craft: The Promise at the Base of the Pyramid” for inclusion in Impact Investing in the Global Creative Economy
- 2018–
- 2021University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, Guest Lecturer, Sustainable Business
- 2018New York University, Stern School of Business, Guest Lecturer, Global Business Strategy
- Ford Foundation, Presenter, Upstart Co-lab Study Group on Investment in the Creative Economy Ethical Sourcing Forum, Presenter
- Harvard SHINE Forum, Presenter
- 2017United Nations, Panelist, The New Handworker Economy Convening
- New York University, Stern School of Business, Guest Lecturer, Transparency in Global Supply Chains Fast Company Innovation Festival, Presenter
- US-China Cultural Forum, Panelist