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Chris Draper

Leading Sustainable Transformations | Reinventing Traditional Businesses with Tech | Board Member | Executive

Chris Draper is a versatile professional with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and a strong background in aerospace, automotive, and green finance. With a mission to create value and impact through data, innovation, and collaboration, Chris excels in tech adoption, circularity optimization, and organizational realignment. Leveraging a diverse skill set, Chris solves complex problems, generates insights, and drives growth and sustainability for stakeholders. Chris has held leadership roles in various organizations, including CEO at ESG RACs and Director at Trokt. Additionally, Chris has affiliations with academic institutions like Indiana University Bloomington and Drake University, where Chris served as a visiting scholar and an adjunct professor, respectively. With a history of involvement in mediation, venture partnerships, and published authorship, Chris brings a unique blend of expertise and experience to every project.

Highlights

Aug 20 · linkedin

Rule #1 of entrepreneurism: know when to walk.

There’s a lot of numbers in this article that suggest “great expense” over “great news.” If our fellow taxpayers are investing to make this site usable, I’m curious how a stadium for a team that will likely structurally lose money - disconnected from what could become a stadium corridor that shares parking and resources to the east - is the highest and best use in an otherwise densifying City.

$2B doesn’t go very far when $150M per year goes out the door each year - the public shouldn’t be backing private boondoggles.

Aug 16 · linkedin

Hopefully we can stop making the same mistake that allowed "...many of the issues highlighted in the packet on this item [regarding Ryan François 's Woodland Realm] exist because we [as the City of Des Moines] have failed to provide clear strategic guidance to our [#urbanfarming , #urbangardening , and #foodsecurity ] community on how we want to support the economic viability of these types of projects in our densifying city..."

Like every broken record, I'll say it again: we need to start pushing for those small, definitive, and transformative wins that Jeremy Caron and team need to make great change - the kinds of "thankless" wins that would have kept this item from ever being an ordeal - like fixing 134.3-7-2 to finally make sustainable, financially viable urban farming LEGAL all across #dsmusa

Chris Draper
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Location

Des Moines, Iowa, United States