Meet Christian Fong
“Every Iowan has a dream. I believe that Iowans long to come together to restore our communities, our families and our shared heritage, united around our individual dreams. Just imagine what Iowa could be if we came together to make our dreams come true.
– Christian Fong
A son of a Chinese immigrant and a Nebraska farm girl, Christian Fong is a product of the Iowa Dream. One of eight children, Christian graduated high school from Underwood in Southwest Iowa.
Christian has spent his career in the financial services sector, including as an executive with AEGON, an insurance company located in Cedar Rapids. Today, he is the Managing Partner of Fong Strategic Consulting, where he assists social sector and financial sector clients with strategic and organizational change.
Education:
Christian has a B.S. in Statistics from Creighton University, graduating first in his class. He earned an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where he graduated with High Honors and as a Tuck Scholar. Christian is a CFA and CCIM charter holder
Professional Highlights:
Christian is a founding appointee of the Generation Iowa Commission. In 2009, he was elected Chair by his peers. The Generation Iowa Commission studies the Millennial Generation and advises and advocates for ways to make cities, companies and the state more appealing to the next generation. Through the Commission, Fong has helped employers and communities throughout Iowa measure and improve their recruiting and retention efforts of Gen X and Millennial workers.
Christian serves on the boards of Orchestra Iowa, Brucemore (Iowa’s only National Trust for Historic Preservation site) and the JP2 Stem Cell Research Institute. He previously served on the Cedar Rapids Recovery & Reinvestment Coordinating Team, the Board of Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce, where he served as chair of the Small Business Task Force, and was a founding member of both the Linn Area Long-Term Recovery Coalition and ImpactCR, Eastern Iowa’s leading young professionals networking group.
Community Volunteer:
Christian Fong founded and is President and CEO of Corridor Recovery, a non-profit flood relief organization that coordinated recovery efforts after the Cedar Rapids Flood of 2008. Corridor Recovery coordinated thousands of volunteers, partnering private and public resources to clean and rebuild hundreds of homes in Cedar Rapids. Corridor Recovery works to make the recovery effort transparent and available to all citizens.
Family:
He and his wife, Jenelle, have three kids: Luther, Ty Anders and Elsa. They worship at River of Life Ministries church in Cedar Rapids. His wife, Jenelle, from Decorah and a Luther College alumni, is a former school teacher who currently is staying at home, serving as CEO of the Fong household.
Hobbies:
Christian is a triathlete and enjoys adventure racing. He is an avid reader, plays the violin and loves hanging out with his family.