Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, HealthCentral
Christopher M. Schroeder is a leading entrepreneur and investor in interactive technologies and social communications. He is Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of HealthCentral, the highest quality collection of condition and wellness-specific interactive experiences focused on people finding and sharing real-life experiences related to their health needs. Backed by Polaris Ventures, Sequoia Capital, The Carlyle Group, Allen & Co., and IAC/Interactive Corp (IAC), HealthCentral also manages the leading condition-specific health online advertising network. HealthCentral's sites reach over 16.4 million unique users each month.
Schroeder is an investor and advisor for a series of technology start-ups and funds ranging from news and media, education, social networks and marketing. He is also engaged in exploring more global trends towards entrepreneurship, with a special focus on the developing world and the Middle East.
A veteran of online media, Schroeder served as CEO and Publisher of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, which hosts washingtonpost.com and newsweek.msnbc.com, among other leading news sites. During his tenure, the Company more than quadrupled in revenue and audience. Previously, Schroeder was CEO and President of LEGI-SLATE, INC, a leading online B2B provider of information on federal and state legislation and regulation, which he sold.
Prior to joining The Washington Post, Schroeder was a partner with Thayer Capital Partners, a leading private equity company in Washington, DC, and with the investment bank Salomon Brothers in New York, focusing on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions projects for a wide range of Fortune 500 companies. Schroeder has also had extensive government experience, serving in leading management roles in President George Bush's 1988 and 1992 election campaigns, and working on Secretary of State James A. Baker's staff with then Under Secretary (and currently President of the World Bank) Robert Zoellick.
Schroeder was a co-founder, and served as Chairman of the Online Publishers Association (OPA), a leading research and information organization comprised of the CEOs of top online quality content publishers (including MSNBC, The New York Times Company, Dow Jones and ESPN). He has won numerous awards, including PharmaVOICE Top 100 Most Inspiring People in Life Sciences and was one of the first interactive executives named to the American Advertising (AAF) Hall of Achievement (a national annual award honoring the leading executives in advertising). Schroeder was named one of the top business executives to watch by Business Forward, Media and Washingtonian.
Schroeder writes and speaks extensively on the internet and consumer behavior, and has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and media magazines. The Washington Post most recently published his observations on a gathering of entrepreneurs he participated in that was held in the Middle East. He actively supports the Center for New American Security (CNAS), Business Executives for National Security (BENS) and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, French American Foundation and American Council on Germany. He is a co-founder of activities for the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) and advises the National Gallery of Art. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and with honors from Harvard Business School. He is married to Alexandra Coburn, and has three children: Jack, Julia and Ben.