Chris Grams

Chris Grams has a diverse work experience spanning multiple industries and roles. Chris is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Tidelift, a position they have held since November 2022. Prior to this, they served as the Head of Marketing at Tidelift from October 2017 to November 2022.

From 2010 to 2017, Chris worked at New Kind as the President & Partner of a tech-focused branding and marketing agency. Chris'sresponsibilities included managing day-to-day operations, sales and lead generation, financial operations, client management, human resources, and strategy/planning. Chris worked with notable clients such as IBM, Lenovo, Red Hat, and Software AG, as well as high-growth startups like Ansible and NGINX.

In addition, Chris served as a Community Guide at the Management Innovation Exchange (MIX) from September 2010 to January 2015. Chris played a role in expanding and engaging the MIX community.

Chris also has experience as an author, having written a book titled "The Ad-Free Brand: Secrets to Building Successful Brands in a Digital World" published in 2011. The book focuses on community-based brand strategy and positioning development, drawing from Chris's experiences at Red Hat.

Speaking of Red Hat, Chris spent over a decade at the company from July 1999 to January 2010. Chris held the position of Senior Director, Brand Communications + Design and led the brand strategy and marcom team. During their tenure, Red Hat adopted a unique community-based approach to building the brand, which allowed them to compete with larger technology companies while operating on a smaller marketing budget.

Prior to Red Hat, Chris worked in marketing communications at IBM from 1997 to 1999 and as an Acquisitions Editor at Ventana Communications from 1996 to 1997. Chris also gained experience as a Literary Agent at the Sagalyn Literary Agency from 1994 to 1996.

Overall, Chris Grams has extensive experience in marketing, branding, community-building, and leadership roles, working with large technology companies and startups throughout their career.

Chris Grams attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1990 to 1994, where they earned a Bachelor's degree in History and Political Science.