American philanthropist and businessman (born 1970)

Christopher Douglas Meek (born September 30, 1970) is an American philanthropist and businessman. Meek is a financial services executive and is a co-founder and chairman of SoldierStrong, a charitable organization supporting U.S. service members and veterans. Meek is a member of the board of directors of the Hayek Ins*ute for American Renewal (HIFAR) and ReachStrong, a 501c3 not-for-profit focused on mental health empowerment and well-being. Meek also serves as adjunct professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on non-profit management and board governance.

He served as a member of the board of directors of Career Resources (Bridgeport, Connecticut) and is a former board member of the World Affairs Forum. Meek is the past chairman of the board of directors of the Yerwood Center in Stamford, Connecticut. He also served as vice chairman of the board of directors at St Luke's LifeWorks and is the past chairman of the Development Committee as well as the Life Long Learning Committee there. Meek served as the chairman of Stamford's Urban Redevelopment Commission. Meek was a co-founder and chairman of START Now! in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

In December 2020, Meek launched a new nonprofit, ReachStrong, a frequently updated online resource that contains curated content, including articles and videos, focused on fostering and supporting mental health and emotional well-being. As engagement with the online resource increases over time, Meek plans to expand the website to include original content and to evolve into a leading resource for brain health information.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Education
• 3 Career
• 4 Community activism
• 5 Politics
• 6 Personal life
• 7 Next Steps Forward with Chris Meek
• 8 References

Early life

Meek was born in 1970 in Elmira, New York to Douglas and Camille Meek. After his parents divorced in 1972, Meek was raised largely by his mother, who was a deaf education teacher, and his maternal grandparents George and Marion Giroux.

Education

Meek attended and graduated from Elmira Free Academy. In 1992, Meek graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. While at Syracuse University, Meek was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Meek earned an MBA in Financial Management at Pace University (New York, New York) in 1999.While attending Syracuse University, he interned for U.S. Senator Al D'Amato from 1990 to 1992 in his Syracuse Regional Office. This internship led to Senator D’Amato asking Meek to take a senior role in his Central New York Re-Election campaign committee during the 1992 Senatorial Race against New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams.

Career

After graduating from Syracuse University in 1992, Meek worked for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Syracuse, New York from 1992 to 1993 and then for Dean Witter Reynolds from 1993 to 1995. In October 1995, Meek moved from Syracuse to New York City and began working for Hull Trading Company, a Chicago-based options market-making firm. In July 1999, Hull was acquired by Goldman Sachs and Company. Meek ran the firms’ floor-based trading operations from 1999 to 2002. Since then, Meek has served as a Financial Services Executive in New York City for State Street Global Advisors and currently serves as the global relationship manager for S&P Global, Inc.

Community activism

Chris Meek (at right) receiving the 2014 Syracuse University Orange Circle Award from Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud for his philanthropic work; April 2, 2014. Chris Meek hosting a SoldierStrong fundraising charity event at Honeywell, Washington D.C.; May 20, 2014.

In April 2009, Meek held his first in a series of loan modification events at the Yerwood Center in Stamford. The event consisted of five banks and several agencies offering *istance to avoid foreclosure. The program enabled 36 families to modify their mortgage, avoid going into foreclosure and losing their homes. Meek created the not-for-profit START Now! in May 2009, which extended similar *istance to 252 families over 11 events.

In July 2009, Meek received a request from a U.S. marine asking for help in obtaining hygienic items for our American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. This led him to create the not-for-profit SoldierStrong. Since its founding, SoldierStrong has shipped more than 75,000 pounds of basic supplies to 73 units in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In June 2012, SoldierStrong launched a scholarship initiative partnering with the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. That July, SoldierStrong expanded its efforts launching the new SoldierStrong Veterans Grant Foundation to help those returning from the frontlines. A year later, in July 2013, SoldierStrong again set its focus on returning veterans and further expanded the scope of the not-for-profits’ efforts. Partnering with Ekso Bionics, SoldierStrong began working to give paralyzed veterans the ability to walk again. In October 2013, SoldierStrong launched a fundraising campaign to raise funds to provide robotic exo-skeletal suits to veterans.

Dan Rose became the first recipient of an Ekso suit from SoldierStrong in December 2013. Rose was paralyzed after the truck he was commanding struck an IED in Afghanistan on April 27, 2011.

Since donating the first suit, SoldierStrong has partnered with VA facilities across the country to expand the reach of these transformational devices. As of January 2021, SoldierStrong has donated 25 exoskeleton suits. SoldierStrong also launched BraveMindMind, a program which provides help for veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress through virtual reality therapy. There have been 16 StrongMind Virtual Reality Systems donated to VA Hospitals since September 2019.

In 2011, Meek received the President's Call to Service Award from President Barack Obama.

In October 2011, Chris was awarded the 2011 March of Dimes Franklin Delano Roosevelt Outstanding Corporate Citizen Award.

Connecticut Magazine's inaugural "40 under 40" honoring the state's next generation of leaders named Meek as one of the forty new young leaders who are "full of energy, ideas and the determination to steer an unswerving course into the future".

On April 2, 2014, Chris Meek was presented with the Orange Circle Award for the groups' philanthropic work. Presented by Syracuse University, the award recognizes members of the SU community who have done extraordinary things in the service of others.

On May 22, 2018, Chris Meek testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Research and Technology and subcommittee on Energy about using hyper-advanced medical devices to improve the lives of veterans. Meek was joined in testifying by SoldierStrong Advisory board member and Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum.

In 2020, Meek launched ReachStrong, a non-profit focused on mental health empowerment and well-being.

SoldierStrong was featured in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on April 6, 2021, which recognized the work being carried out by the organization under Chris' direction.

Politics

On August 24, 2010, Meek was sworn into a 3-year term as commissioner on the city's Urban Redevelopment Committee (URC) and was elected chairman of the commission on December 13, 2012. On October 17, 2011, Meek announced his candidacy to represent Connecticut's 4th congressional district. He had previously been mentioned as a potential candidate for the United States Senate in 2012. Meek, who added a new child to his family in March 2012, withdrew from the race several months before Connecticut's Primary election.

On February 20, 2021, the Stamford Advocate published an op-ed by Meek in which he called for Connecticut state legislators to focus on licensure policy that would benefit military veterans and spouses, specifically those in the education field, and for the United States Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, to work with the United States Department of Defense to elevate the Troops to Teachers program, which encourages military veterans to become public school teachers.

On May 22, 2018, Chris Meek testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Research and Technology and subcommittee on Energy about using hyper-advanced medical devices to improve the lives of veterans.

Personal life

Meek lives in Stamford, Connecticut with his wife and their three children.

Next Steps Forward with Chris Meek

On August 4, 2020, Meek launched his podcast Next Steps Forward With Chris Meek on the Voice America Talk Radio Network's Empowerment Channel. Each Tuesday at 1 PM Eastern/10 AM Pacific, Meek hosts leaders from the worlds of business, sports, entertainment, medicine, politics and public policy as they engage in thought-provoking discussions to empower listeners to better themselves, cultivate a better sense of their own well-being and make the commitment to serve others.

Since its inception, guests have included

• Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, PREVENTS Executive Director
• Rorke Denver, United States Navy SEALs Commander and bestselling author
• Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo, director of medical virtual reality at the University of Southern California and creator of the BraveMind medical virtual reality program
• Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Indy 500 race car driver
• Guy Snodgr*, instructor at the Navy's Fighter Weapons School TOPGUN and former director of communications for the Defense Secretary Commander
• Martha MacCallum, award-winning Fox News Channel host
• Lacey Evans, WWE Superstar
• Anne Beiler, entrepreneur and founder of Auntie Anne's
• Second Lady of the United States Karen Pence
• Dean Kamen, founder and president of DEKA (company) and inventor of the Segway
• Surgeon General of the United States Jerome M. Adams
• Alveda King, evangelist, activist and niece of Martin Luther King Jr.
• H. R. McMaster, former National Security Advisor (United States) and bestselling author
• Sean O'Keefe, former United States Secretary of the Navy and former NASA administrator
• Armen Keteyian, 11-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and former chief investigative correspondent for CBS News
• Gregory D. Gadson, actor, motivational speaker and retired colonel in the United States Army
• Mark Halperin, nationally recognized political *yst, reporter and current host of Mark Halperin's Focus Group on Newsmax
• Cynthia Garrett, television host and personality; first Black women to host a network late-night show, Later (talk show) with Cynthia Garrett

References