Michael Christian, Board President, Someone Else’s Child, Inc.

Michael Christian has served as Board President of Someone Else’s Child, Inc. (SEC) for nearly 25 years. The foundation supports youth causes throughout the U.S., Africa, and Central America with areas of emphasis including education, the arts, youth living with disabilities, economic justice, and collective action efforts. SEC addresses disparities by investing in opportunities for young people to live, learn, grow and engage as contributing members of their communities. 

Mike is the Managing Partner for Community Impact Ventures (CIV), a venture capital impact fund that provides financial support to social entrepreneurs and for-profit companies that have missions similar to that of Someone Else’s Child. CIV invests in early-stage firms creating meaningful social impact. He also serves on the boards of MathTalk and Education Modified and acts as an advisor to many of the CIV portfolio companies and other start-up organizations. 

He currently serves on several non-profit boards including the Boch Center/Wang Theater, Boston Explorers, Rwanda Youth Partners, Yiya Solutions, The Folk/Americana/Roots Hall of Fame, and the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers. 

Mike is also the Chairman and Founder of Risk Strategies, a leading national insurance brokerage firm. In his role as Chairman, Mike works with Risk Strategies' senior team, private equity partner, and the board of directors on strategic and client value initiatives. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Risk Strategies from 1997 to 2019. He led the private equity-backed company from its start-up beginnings into a top national risk advisor/broker with revenues of over $1.5 billion. Prior to Risk Strategies, Mike held leadership positions with Jardine Insurance Brokers, including serving on the U.S. Board of Directors, AON and Alexander & Alexander. 

He hosts the What’s @ Risk radio show on WBZ (iHeartRadio) in Boston. 

Mike majored in Philosophy at the University of California in Santa Barbara. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
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Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, hi, How'm i Christian. I'm the chairman of someone
Else's Child, and I'm also the chairman of a risk
strategies company, which I founded many years ago. Well's actually
my wife, Diane's idea. She came up with the Ideash
came up with the name someone Else's Child, which has
resonated down through the years. The theme really is that
we're all responsible for the children in our communities. The

(00:31):
money goes to various organizations that we work with. We
work through other nonprofit organizations that focus in on children,
and it might be education, it might be the arts,
it could be children living with disabilities, economic justice. There's
a wide gamut of areas that we work with, but
we generally work through other organizations. We've been fortunate in

(00:55):
our lives and we've been able to we're in a
position where we can give back to some extent, and
we're now at a time in our lives when we're
not in our for profit careers anymore. Our kids have
all grown and we have the time to be able
to do it too, which is an important part. My
advice would be to focus in on something you're passionate about.
Think about how you're going to do it, and how
are you going to involve and how are you going

(01:16):
to add value beyond writing a check.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
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