Chris Wiant is the president and CEO of Caring for Colorado Foundation, a conversion foundation endowed with the proceeds of the 1999 sale of Blue-Cross Blue-Shield of Colorado to Anthem Insurance.

Prior to joining the foundation, he was executive director of the Tri-County Health Department, serving nearly one million residents in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties. For 13 years, Chris served as deputy director at Tri-County and director of environmental health. Prior to coming to Colorado, he worked for the Illinois Department of Public Health where he was responsible for a variety of programs addressing the human health effects of exposure to toxic substances in the environment.

Chris has been involved for many years in issues of national, state and local public health and environmental policy. He has been appointed to numerous boards and commissions including chairing the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission. Nationally, he has served on the Environmental Protections Agency’s National Drinking Water Advisory Council and was chairman of the NSF International Council of Public Health Consultants. Chris is also past president of the National Environmental Health Association and the Colorado Public Health Association and has acted as a facilitator to promote effective dialogue between communities and federal, state and local government agencies concerning the remediation of Superfund sites.

Chris received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Illinois State University, a master’s in health services administration from the University of Illinois, a master’s in public health from the University of Illinois and a PhD in public administration, with an emphasis in environmental policy, from the University of Colorado.