Christopher Denby
CEO & Founder
Chris brings 30 years of experience in the business world, both in consulting with McKinsey & Company, and as a top executive for almost 20 years at the Advisory Board Company. Simultaneously, Chris has spent 15 years deeply connected to and involved with a variety of organizations in the arts and broader non-profit world, and a lifetime fascinated and inspired by the world of the arts. As Chief Executive Officer of the newly formed Advisory Board for the Arts, Chris aspires to combine his parallel tracks in service to the arts. By bringing to bear his experiences in the business world to adapt for arts organizations, Chris hopes to provide a unique advisory model with its foundations in shared learning and long-term performance improvement.
Chris was Executive Vice President of The Advisory Board Company until 2017. The company, now owned by United Healthcare, is a global technology, research and services company in the healthcare and higher education industries based in Washington, DC. Over the course of his 19 years at the Advisory Board, he led its research division, created its leadership development business, and oversaw best practice research on issues ranging from healthcare strategy and nursing to philanthropy and high-performance leadership.
Prior to joining the Advisory Board, Chris was a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company in Washington, DC, and Rome, Italy, where he led projects for a broad spectrum of Fortune 500 companies in industries as diverse as consumer goods, energy, and banking. Upon returning to McKinsey in 2018, Chris led a portfolio of internal start-up companies focused on data and analytics solutions designed to deepen the impact of McKinsey’s work with clients. The portfolio of 14 companies Chris oversaw were located all around the world and ranged in scope from the retail sector to the agriculture industry.
Impassioned about both the support of the arts and nonprofit organizations, Chris serves as Chairman of the Board of The Washington Chorus and Chairman of Post-Classical Ensemble; further, he recently joined the board of the Oslo International Arts Festival, launching in 2021. He has also been on the boards of St. Albans School and of the Halcyon Foundation.