Christopher was born and raised in Newburgh, New York to Reverend Dr. Zebedee & Betty Herring. He is a retired United States Air Force officer, commissioned in 1991. Chris led various diversity and equal opportunity and treatment programs while on active duty. His excellence enabled him to be a protocol officer for President Ronald Reagan, handpicked to lead the Department of Defense "One America" White House initiative of President Bill Clinton and project leader to President George W. Bush for his Homeland Security visits to South Dakota. Subsequently, Christopher was recognized by the US JAYCEES with a lifetime achievement award as one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans (TOYA). With his positive impacts to America, he joined an elite group of a little over 600 Americans since 1939 to include former Presidents Bill Clinton, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Gerald Ford and John F. Kennedy, and corporate tycoons Ross Perot, Henry Heinz and Nelson Rockefeller.
A sought after leader and business consultant, Christopher is a premier national leader in business development, economic & workforce development, diversity and inclusion and entrepreneurship. Chris brings complex problems to creative solutions from experiences serving as an executive in the for-profit, non-profit, academia and government sectors of America's economy. Chris is a graduate of Boston University, Chapman University, and the George Washington University and is also a certified Workforce Diversity Trainer through the Society of Human Resource Management.
Christopher’s wealth of experiences include serving as President/CEO of the Alamo City Black Chamber of Commerce, the River Walk Publishing, LLC, the Bluffview Estates of Camino Real Home Owners Association and he is in his fourth year as the Chairman of the Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce (TAAACC), and also Owner and Vice President of New Horizons School, LLC, Executive Vice President of South Texas Operations for Blackstar Companies. Chris is a Silver-Life Member of the NAACP and an active member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
As the Chairman of the Texas Black Chamber, he advocates for over 250,000 Black businesses and 23 chambers of commerce - to include Prairie View Chamber of Commerce - in the nation's second largest economy, with the expressed goal to increase Black business revenues and sales.
Since 2011, Christopher has served three mayors as the Mayor of San Antonio's appointee to the Small Business Advocacy Committee (SBAC) overseeing the Small Business Economic Development Advocacy (SBEDA) Program subcontracting goals. He was elected by his peers as the City of San Antonio Chairman of the Small Business Advocacy Committee and the 5-Yr Contracting Diversity Plan Accountability Subcommittee which are both laws within the city of San Antonio.
Chris' story was captured by StoryCorps and their recorded conversation was entered into the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and in a special collection at National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC in 2016.
Christopher is proudly married to Jacqueline Jones Herring and they are the proud parents of Chris, Maya, and Olivia. They are active members of the Now Word Covenant Church in San Antonio, Texas.
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