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MPACT Speaker Series
January 17, 2019 @ 6:30 pm
Please join us as Chris Field, founder of Mercy Project and author, presents “Disrupting for Good: Using Passion and Persistence to Create a Lasting Change”. Chris will share powerful stories about everyday people making a difference in our world. You, too, can become a disruptor for good – Chris will show you how.
Chris Field is the Founder of Mercy Project and Author of “Disrupting for Good”.
Born in Houston, Texas in 1982, he knew early on that he was different. In grade school he befriended a young man (also named Chris), and kept him from being bullied and harassed. On a trip to visit an uncle in El Paso, his grandmother pointed out that the children just across the border in Mexico had much more difficult lives than he. His response to that became a metaphor for all that he has done since: “What if I just tape money to a rock and throw it across to them? Would that help?”, he asked. He has been figuratively throwing stones of disruption ever since.
As a freshmen in college he ran for mayor of his hometown and finished third out of five candidates. He was encouraged to aim lower by the powers that be, but he aimed high anyway. There is something about stepping out like that. No matter the outcome, it emboldens us and tells us that we can.
He launched Mercy Project in 2010 to combat child trafficking in Ghana’s fishing industry. To date, Mercy Project has rescued, rehabilitated, and reintegrated more than one hundred children back into their families.
In addition to Mercy Project, speaking, and his book, Chris is an adjunct faculty member at Mays Business School.
Chris has broken multiple Guinness world records, run dozens of marathons, organized enormous fundraisers, created viral internet campaigns, taught himself to auctioneer, and brought down walls. He travels the country speaking on how each of us can be disruptors for good. “My hope is that my book and each of these talks will inspire people to find issues where they can roll up their shirtsleeves and do their own disruption, in spite of the difficulties and perhaps even dangers of doing so,” he says.
Chris lives in College Station, Texas with his wife, Stacey, and their four children.