Chris Steiner is the Chief Executive Officer of Helvetas USA, the American affiliate of Switzerland’s largest international development NGO. Since 2018, he has led the organization’s strategic expansion, helping connect over 1.5 million people to clean water and 1.3 million to rural access infrastructure across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

With more than 25 years of field and executive experience, Christian has held humanitarian and development leadership roles in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mozambique, Kyrgyzstan, and Madagascar. He has brokered partnerships across sectors—including a $60 million collaboration with charity: water—and helped secure major USAID awards in both emergency response and long-term development.

His areas of expertise include WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene), labor mobility, youth employment, and inclusive economic growth. His work has received international recognition, including the Energy Globe World Award (2007) and selection as a finalist in the World Bank Development Marketplace on Climate Change (2009).

Raised on a Swiss farm, Christian is fluent in five languages. He holds an Executive MBA from the University of Barcelona and a degree in Agricultural Economics from the Bern University of Applied Sciences. He currently serves as a Board Director and Head of Philanthropy for the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce in Southern California.

Christian is particularly interested in how philanthropic capital can drive systems-level change while staying grounded in local realities. He brings a practitioner’s lens to global engagement—bridging policy and practice, strategy and dignity.