Chris Schroeder is a senior advisor to the Global Entrepreneurship Network where he provides counsel and advice on programming decisions in the Middle East and beyond. He is the author of the best seller, and first book on startups in the Arab world, Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East, with a forward by Marc Andreessen of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Schroeder is an entrepreneur, advisor and investor in interactive technologies and social communications around the globe. He co-founded Next Billion Ventures, which invests in growth stage tech companies in rising markets (especially MENA, South East Asia and Latin America). He also serves on the Investment Committee of Wamda Capital, a leading VC fund in MENA, an advisor to Saudi Telecom Ventures and and co-led the Economic Recovery and Revitalization working group of the Atlantic Council's Middle East Strategy Task Force, co-chaired by Madeleine Albright and Steve Hadley.

Previously, Schroeder was the CEO and Publisher of washingtonpost.newsweek interactive and co-founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital backed startup HealthCentral.com, sold in 2012. He is a personal investor in disruptive enterprises including Vox Media, Skift, Quibb, iBotta, Zignal Labs, CrowdPac and Charge Hound, and emerging market fin tech enterprise Segovia among others, and as a limited partner in leading Silicon Valley venture capital funds.

Schroeder has served on the board of advisers of the American University of Cairo School of Business, American University School of International Service, and the boards of directors of the American University of Beirut, The German Marshall Fund and the American Council on Germany. He writes and speaks extensively on startups and innovation as well as emerging markets and the Middle East for The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Fortune, Fast Company, TechCrunch, Business Insider among many others, and has been featured on Charlie Rose and Fareed Zakaria's 360. He was named one of LinkedIn's first 50 Influencers. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School.