Christopher Ireland

Christopher spent most of her career as CEO/Partner at Cheskin, a consulting firm that emphasizes innovation through a deep understanding of people, culture and change. She is noted for her ability to create simple explanations of complex human behavior and to translate those insights into effective design and development strategies.

Christopher's primary area of focus has been consumer-driven technology. Her experience in this area includes researching and developing brand and product positioning strategies for all of Microsoft's major businesses. In addition, she worked with HP, Intel, Motorola and Apple on the design and marketing of their hardware. To maintain her sanity and perspective, she also consulted to brands offering simpler fare including Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Gap and Levi's.

After two decades of serving Fortune 500 clients and bootstrapped startups, Christopher and her partners sold Cheskin. Since then she has focused on helping non-profits improve their marketing and strategic planning, teaching at CCA, and helping her daughter open an online business (www.smocksdesign.com). Christopher has an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She co-authored China's Culture of Cool and has spoken about innovation and cultural change at leading universities and design conferences.