Christopher is the Head of Diversity Equity Inclusion Accessibility and Community Engagement for Type One Energy, a fusion energy start up based in Madison.
Christopher is a Wisconsin Native of the Menominee Nation, on his mother’s side. She recently retired as the Principal for the Oneida Tribal School in Oneida. Christopher’s father is Mexican-American from Laredo, Texas and worked with immigrant farm labor communities there.
Christopher grew up in Green Bay and completed his undergraduate degree at UW-Stevens Point in 1999. He then moved to the Pacific Northwest to start his career where he worked in the environmental nonprofit sector (often at the intersection of environmental justice and equity). He met his first partner Kelvin who helped him come out to his family and friends. Tragically, Kelvin passed away a few months prior to Christopher turning 30 after a long fight with HIV/AIDS in 2004.
Along with Christopher’s early experiences of homophobia and racism, this tragedy inspired Christopher to connect more deeply with the LGBTQIA2S+ community as well as social and racial justice movements in Seattle. Christopher became an outspoken leader of uplifting an intersectional liberation perspective from both the mainstream LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC communities at the time when marriage equality was at the forefront. That work continues for Christopher to this day.
I am a conservation voter because I have worked my entire career to help increase access for all communities to have access to the benefits the outdoors and a clean environment brings.