Dr. Chris Howard works closely with ASU President Michael Crow and other executive vice presidents to coordinate enterprise-wide initiatives and advancement, oversee ASU Enterprise affiliates, advance new enterprise relationships and opportunities and integrate ASU Enterprise planning and strategy.

He is a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and earned a doctorate from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. As a student athlete at the United States Air Force Academy, Howard won the Campbell Trophy, the nation’s highest academic award for a senior college football player. He also earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, and received the school’s Alumni Achievement Award in 2018.

Howard’s military career included service as a helicopter pilot and an intelligence officer, and he was awarded a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan.

Previously, Howard served as the eighth president of Robert Morris University in suburban Pittsburgh. Under Howard’s leadership, RMU became a preferred strategic partner for corporations, organizations and professionals in the Pittsburgh region and beyond. RMU also completed the largest capital project and comprehensive campaign in the university’s 100-year history. In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked RMU number 48 on the magazine’s list of Best Value Schools, a reflection of RMU’s high academic quality and affordable price.

Before serving at RMU, Howard was President of Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. During Howard’s tenure at Hampden-Sydney College, the college grew enrollment, improved diversity, boosted retention and raised its endowment.

Previously, he served as Vice President for Leadership and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Oklahoma, and had a successful corporate career with GE and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Howard serves on the Harvard Board of Overseers, and previously served on the Baylor University Board of Regents, the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education and the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. He has chaired the NCAA Honors Committee and holds five honorary doctorates.