Christopher "Chris" Hedrick is an entrepreneur and expert in learning, global health, international development, and technology. He is CEO of NextStep Interactive. NextStep recruits workers who are displaced by automation and artificial intelligence, trains them to build job skills and earn industry certifications and places them in high demand entry-level healthcare jobs.
Prior to founding NextStep, from 2014 through 2016 Hedrick was CEO of Kepler, a university program based in Kigali, Rwanda that blends technology-based learning, intense local seminars and education-to-employment support to offer U.S.-accredited degrees at very low cost. Kepler's aim is to dramatically expand access to high quality college education across Africa. Hedrick led growth of Kepler from a start up class of 50 students to over 400 students on two campuses, one in Kigali and the other a unique program in partnership with the UNHCR based at the Kiziba Refugee Camp in western Rwanda.
From 2007 through 2014, Hedrick led the U.S. Peace Corps efforts in malaria prevention across Africa and was the Country Director for the Peace Corps in Senegal. Hedrick grew Peace Corps/Senegal to become the largest Peace Corps program in the world at the conclusion of his tenure there. Hedrick led the development of the Peace Corps/Senegal Food Security initiative which is the largest USAID-funded Peace Corps food security project in the world under the global Feed the Future program. The Peace Corps program in Senegal under Hedrick's leadership was awarded the prestigious Learning Spotlight Award in 2010 for innovation in its training programs. In 2012, he was awarded the Director's Distinguished Service Award, the agency's highest honor, for his work in creating and coordinating the Peace Corps Stomping Out Malaria in Africa initiative. After partnering with Peace Corps Senegal in a major bed net distribution effort, the international NGO Malaria No More called Hedrick "part international diplomat, part community health worker, part development MacGyver" in its annual report. Hedrick promoted the concept of the "New Peace Corps," the professionalization of Peace Corps programming and service, including enhanced partnerships with USAID and other development institutions and improved utilization of technology.
Intrepid Learning Solutions
From 1999 to 2007, Hedrick was the President and CEO of Intrepid Learning Solutions, a Seattle, Washington-based learning services company which he co-founded with Dennis Heck. Under his leadership, Intrepid was named by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in America. Hedrick raised investments for Intrepid from venture capital companies Madrona Venture Group, FTV Capital, and Rustic Canyon Partners and from individuals including William H. Gates, Sr. While Hedrick was CEO, Intrepid signed a landmark contract to provide outsourced training services to the Boeing Company, landed other clients such as Microsoft, United Airlines, Autodesk, and Bank of America, and was named one of the Top 20 Learning Outsourcing Providers in the world. In 2014, the training outsourcing arm of Intrepid was sold to Xerox to bolster its learning services division.
Previously, he served as the Science and Technology Policy advisor to Gary Locke, the Governor of Washington state, subsequently U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Ambassador to China. During his tenure as the governor's advisor, Washington was named as the state government that most effectively used information technology. While serving as the Science and Technology Policy advisor, Hedrick also was named to lead the Washington State Year 2000 Office, appointed by the Governor to be the public face of the state's Y2K preparations.
Gates Library Foundation
Prior to that he was the founding Director of Strategy and Operations for the Gates Library Foundation, the predecessor organization to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hedrick organized and presented the original proposal to Bill Gates to create a $200 million private philanthropic initiative focused on expanding access to the Internet and providing training and technical assistance to public libraries serving low-income communities.
Microsoft
The Gates Library Foundation grew out of a program called Libraries Online that Hedrick created and managed at Microsoft. At Microsoft, Hedrick was a prominent advocate of bridging the "digital divide." He managed Microsoft's relationships with the United Negro College Fund and with the University of Washington and the state community college system, where he developed and managed a software donation that was the largest in industry history at that time. This donation was announced at a joint event between President Bill Clinton and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates which Hedrick proposed and managed.
Earlier career
He has also been a senior administrator at the Peace Corps, where he worked for Carol Bellamy; served in the administration of Washington Governor Booth Gardner; was elected to the Olympia, Washington School Board; and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal. He worked for Congressman Don Bonker in Washington, D.C., directed his Olympia, Washington district office and managed Bonker's last two successful re-election campaigns, Hedrick was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and graduated with honors and distinction from Stanford University. He is a graduate of Olympia High School and in 2013 was inducted into the Olympia High School Hall of Fame.
