Chris cut his teeth in the service industry — seven years at P.F. Chang’s, working every job on the floor: host, server, bartender, even a stint running focus groups on new menu items (the sesame chicken holds up; the Singapore street noodles remain criminally underrated). He can still serve a table blindfolded, and he’s never fully shaken the habit of directing people with an open palm instead of a point. Old server rules die hard.

That instinct for taking care of people followed him into advertising, which he backed into after bouncing between business and English degrees at Boise State (he couldn’t decide and got both). Fifteen-plus years later, he’s worked as a copywriter and creative director, spent five years as the on-camera face of a YouTube series aimed at high schoolers (yes, teenagers recognize him in public), and picked up hard-won writing advice from author George Saunders, which he is incredibly humble about.

Outside the office, Chris is a deeply organized comic collector (Batman and Green Lantern — no hoarding here), a lifelong Pokémon guy, and a Darjeeling-tea purist, sometimes cream never sugar. He lives with his wife, Ali, and two cats, Dash and Bean, and watches absolutely everything with the captions on.

Mostly, though, he just wants to be the person you can count on and be honest with — and so far, we think he’s just that.