Christopher Michel

Christopher Michel

Christopher Michel is an American investor, entrepreneur and photographer. He is the founder of Affinity Labs and Military.com and runs Nautilus Ventures,^[1] a seed venture fund. In 1999, he founded Military.com, an online portal for servicemembers, veterans and their families.^[2] Military.com was one of the first online social networks to reach scale in the United States. In 2006, Michel founded Affinity Labs, which runs a portfolio of online professional communities. The first, launched in March 2007, was PoliceLink.com. Both Military.com and Affinity Labs were purchased by Monster Worldwide.

Nautilus Ventures portfolio companies include Palantir, Honeybook, Luxe, RelateIQ, GoodReads (Amazon), Castlight Health, 3D Robotics, Blue Bottle, Peek, Scripted, Sparks, Relay, Doctor On Demand, Ne Timeas, Madison Reed, Course Hero, Verbify, CR Reality, Chegg, Flour & Water, Park Tavern, Reddit, Ruby Ribbon, The Cavalier, Sparks, Health Gorilla, Nuzzel, Samovar Tea, etcetera.

Michel serves as a Director of Dale Carnegie, Catchlight, Tugboat Yards,^[3] Kixeye,^[4] and 3D Robotics.^[5] He previously served on the boards of Castlight Health (NYSE: CSLT),^[6] International Data Group (IDG), the United Service Organizations (USO), United States Naval Institute (USNI), the USS Arizona Memorial Fund, the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation, Alliance Health & EZ Board. He was also an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School during the 2010–2011 school year.^[7]

Michel also serves on the President's Circle of the National Academies. In addition, he's an advisor to the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), American Public Media's Marketplace and a variety of other for and non-profit organizations.

Prior to his business career, Michel served as a Naval Flight Officer in the United States Navy. While on active duty, Michel flew as a Navigator, Tactical Coordinator and Mission Commander aboard the P-3C Orion aircraft. Following his operational tour, he worked in The Pentagon as Aide to the Chief of the Naval Reserve.

Christopher Michel in a U-2 Dragon Lady

In 2005, Michel's The Military Advantage: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Military & Veterans Benefits was published by Simon & Schuster. He is also one of three protagonists in Bill Murphy's book, The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship, published by Henry Holt in 2010.^[8] In addition, he was a longtime columnist in Proceedings magazine.

Michel is also a photographer. His collection includes photographs from extreme locations like the South Pole, Everest, The Korean DMZ, Papua New Guinea, and at the edge of space (aboard a U-2 Spy Plane). He's also had the opportunity to photograph a variety of global leaders, including the 14th Dalai Lama. His photographs can be found online at his gallery.^[9] His photojournalism work is prolific and his photographs appear regularly in print and online. His "Flying Emperor" photograph was selected as the 2nd place finisher in the 2014 Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year.

Michel is the Editor at Explorers,^[10] a site dedicated to adventure travel and a member of the Explorers Club.^[11] He has also published a number of fine art books, including Monochromatic,^[12] Rajasthan,^[13] Point 95,^[14] and Roof of the World.^[15]

Michel earned his commission from the NROTC program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was selected as the distinguished naval graduate.^[16] He also holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an honorary doctorate from Tiffin University. Michel was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and serves as a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christopher Michel.