About Chris
Chris McCrum is an executive coach and team coach, and organizational effectiveness consultant. His work is focused on helping individuals and teams perform to their potential.
Prior to coaching, Chris’ career spanned the foundation and finance fields. A former Chief Operating Officer of the Skoll Global Threats Fund and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Chris focused on strategy development and optimizing operating effectiveness.
Earlier in his career, Chris held a range of leadership roles in the investment management and banking industries. These include Chief Administrative Officer and Head of HR at Barclays Global Investors (now Blackrock), a leading global asset manager.
Chris grew up in the UK where he earned a BA in Finance/Accounting from Exeter University in England, and is a graduate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. He is a Hudson Institute certified coach, a musician (keyboard player and singer) and a resident of Oakland, California.
Chris McCrum is the board chair at Community Initiatives, a fiscal sponsor that serves over 80 Bay Area non-profit organizations, based in Oakland, Ca. He is also an Encore Fellow at Community Action Marin, the largest human services provider in Marin County and the official anti-poverty agency for Marin County.
MY Story
I had a successful life and career in the executive ranks of several large organizations but realized I was not living a full version of myself. I decided to embark on a journey to see what a fully revealed version of myself would be. This started with a three day LifeForward class at the Hudson Institute in Santa Barbara, from which my coaching path emerged. This also triggered other realizations around what my purpose in life was, and what gives me joy, both at work and outside of work. I feel my work (and life) is now more fully aligned with who I am as a human being.
Life is not a straight line for most of us and certainly hasn’t been for me. It takes time to figure tough stuff out. To paraphrase David Brooks in his book Second Mountain, ….. “First, we deny that there’s something wrong with our life. Then we intensify our efforts to follow the old failing plan. Then we try to treat ourselves with some new thrill…. Only when all this fails do we admit to the need to change the way we think about life.”
