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Christopher Hest, Vice President for External Affairs, joined Freedom from Hunger in 2008. He is charged with increasing the organization's revenue base and public profile to meet program expansion goals. Christopher has more than 20 years' experience in nonprofit leadership, working most recently as Chief Philanthropy Officer of the William J. Clinton Foundation, Deputy Director of the Asian Art Museum, and in philanthropy leadership roles at The Nature Conservancy and San Francisco Symphony. As President of Fitzgerald & Graves, a management consulting firm to nonprofit organizations based in San Francisco, Christopher designed and executed construction and endowment campaigns, as well as major donor programs, for dozens of organizations whose missions range from the visual and performing arts to education and environmental conservation. Christopher served for several years as Vice Chair, Board of Directors, of Healing Waters (a nonprofit social service organization) and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Fund Raising Counsel. He is a certified ACA Whitewater Kayaking Instructor and navigates remote Class IV and V whitewater in the Himalaya, New Zealand, Africa, Latin America, and throughout the United States. He holds a degree in Political Science from Duke University.
When Christopher joined Freedom from Hunger, he fulfilled his ambition to advance microfinance. "I was paddling in the Himalaya when I was converted to the power of microfinance. I knew immediately that I wanted to be part of this movement—this innovation in fighting chronic hunger and the poverty that creates it," says Christopher. "It took some years for me to find my way to Freedom from Hunger and its unique role in the fight. I'm especially excited about Freedom from Hunger's combination of microfinance and education; it’s that conviction that it takes more than money to improve a life."
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