Introduction:

Christopher Neff is a native of New England. He  holds a B.A. in Political Science from James Madison University in Virginia, where he served as Senior Class President (99) and a Master Degree with Honors in Public Policy from the University of Sydney (07). Currently, Christopher is pursuing his PhD in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney.

On the Hill: Christopher has worked as a congressional staffer for Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Senator John Warner (R-Virginia).

Lobbying: In 2002, Christopher became the first full-time lobbyist for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network until July, 2006. In his time there, he managed the initial introduction of the Military Readiness Ehancement Act (MREA) to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy and law. In August 2006, Chris joined the advertising, lobbying and public relations firm DDB Issues and Advocacy. While there he worked for a number of clients and issues including health information technology, advanced medical devices and community health clinics.

Boards of Directors: Christopher has served on the Board of the Equality Federation of state-wide LGBT political organizations (2001-2006) and served as the President of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C.. In 2006, he started the first LGBTQ lobbyist’s group in Washington, Q Street, in 2005.

Consulting: Christopher has worked for the Palm Center since 2005, initially as a client at DDB, then as a consult tele-commuting while working remotely. He is currently the Deputy Executive Director. There he manages congressional relations and strategic communications.

Non-Profit Management: Christopher served as the Executive Director of Outright Vermont from December, 2007 until January, 2010. While there he grew the organization by 60% during the recession of 2008 and 2009. Youth attendance increased by 350% in his first year and 50% in his second year. Outright ran net-budget surpluses during both years.

A full list of accomplishments from Outright is available on the youth empowerment tab of this website: http://christopherneff.com/?page_id=7

Travel: Christopher is an avid international traveler and enjoys  pushing his normally conservative diet a bit further. In the picture to the left he is absailing down a mountain in New Zealand. In June 2011, Chris spent a month of PhD field work in Cape Town, South Africa exploring this amazing country and continent.

Other top destinations include Thailand, Egypt and Everest.

Sports: Christopher is a member of Red Sox Nation, never misses a Patriots game and enjoys just about all sports, including water-skiing, soccer, cricket, surfing, golf, baseball, basketball, bowling, lawn bowling, running and swimming.