Chris is an educational psychologist and CEI’s Founder and initial Executive Director (2009-2023). . Chris is a nationally recognized expert, consultant, moderator, and frequent speaker on student trauma, mindfulness, children’s mental health, peer supports and teen suicide prevention, listening to youth, furthering equity, and implementing mindfulness, yoga, and meditation in schools. She is also an assistant clinical professor in the department of psychiatry at Yale University’s School of Medicine for the Program for Community Health and Recovery. From 2022-2023 she served as a Co-Principal Investigator for the Compassionate School Leadership Academy. Chris has served as a researcher, professor, senior scientist in disability education, university professor, evaluator, consultant, and entrepreneur. She has also served as the Director of Research and Professional Development at the National Association of Elementary School Principals; She is an IKYTA certified yoga instructor with 21 years of experience teaching weekly yoga, meditation, and mindfulness classes, and she is also a certified radiant child yoga instructor.

Chris has authored more than 120 books and articles and served as the principal investigator, director, or evaluator on over 15 national projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institutes of HealthIn 2016, she received a “Pioneer in Children’s Well-being” award from the Robert Woods Johnson and Ashoka Foundations. In recent years she has served as the lead author for eight books on heart centered learning, mindfulness, compassion, and equity in early childhood education.