Bio
Chris Flink is an Adjunct Professor and a versatile leader with experience spanning top creative, educational and cultural institutions. He's a dynamic executive who consistently marries imagination with strategic rigor, brings the best out of interdisciplinary teams, and fosters inclusive, human-centered organizational cultures. He is the former CEO and Executive Director of the Exploratorium (2016-22), senior partner at IDEO (1997-2016), and Fortune 500 corporate board member. At Stanford, he was reappointed as an Adjunct Professor in 2023 to again support strategic leadership of the "d.school" and contribute to its courses, programs and projects. Professor Flink was a founding faculty member of the d.school (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) and key part of its early leadership team. He was previously appointed as a Consulting Associate Professor in Engineering (1999-2017), a Lecturer in Marketing at the Graduate School of Business (2011-16), and a faculty Resident Fellow (2013-17). Courses taught include: "Advanced Product Design" (ME 216B), "Human Values in Design" (ME 313 with Professor David Kelley), "Brands, Experience & Social Technology" (MKTG 353), "Designing Empathy-based Organizations" (GSBGEN 555), "Social Brands" and "Building Innovative Brands" (MKTG 541 & 552 with Professor Jennifer Aaker). He served as the faculty Resident Fellow for a vibrant innovation-themed undergraduate dorm of more than 130 upperclass students (each year) as they built community and fueled their creative confidence. Professor Flink has also delivered popular guest lectures at Wharton and Columbia business schools, and presented at TEDx as well as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. His adventures with Stanford began as an enthusiastic student, earning his BS in Engineering/Product Design in 1994 and his MS in Management from the Graduate School of Business in 2005.