Assistant Vice President for Digital Strategy and Michigan Commons at the University of Michigan, husband, dad, photographer, nice guy. Lover of the outdoors. Chess aficionado. I wrangle nerds.
As a testament to how far digital media has come, I hiked to an overlook (42.405538, -83.920147) with a backpack full of photo gear, placed a full-frame mirrorless camera on a tripod, focused and took the following image via a remote control iPhone app, edited the RAW image in Lightroom mobile on my iPhone, and then uploaded the finished self-portrait to the web – all while still out in the woods.
My Sony α Universe profile page
I occasionally post to Instagram – treating each row of the grid like a triptych and in monochrome. I also have an outdoors Instagram where I post in colour.
Christopher is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design, earning a BFA in Graphic Design in 1999. He then joined Skidmore Studio in Detroit, founding their digital practice and serving on the management team for 10 years as Director of Interactive Media.
After making the transition to higher ed, he was Director of Web Services at Washtenaw Community College, where he managed a team of designers, developers, and multimedia content creators. His team won an award for best college homepage design (2009, eduStyle Higher-Ed Web Awards) as well as multiple awards for their marketing videos.
A data-driven practitioner, Christopher’s site search analytics methodology was profiled in the book Search Analytics for Your Site: Conversations with Your Customers by Louis Rosenfeld.
Integrating experience from both IT and communications, Christopher became the first digital strategy director for the Office of the VP for Communications at U-M. Christopher collaborates across campus to develop digital solutions that enhance and protect the global reputation of U-M. He is responsible for leadership, oversight, and guidance for U-M’s gateway (umich.edu) and President’s site as well as other key centrally managed sites. Christopher and his team conceived and built such central digital tools as the University URL shortener (myumi.ch) and the brand signature generator. The team also maintains the strategic direction and development of all university-wide social media accounts and provides guidance and policy for campus communicators.