Chris Howard
Chris Howard
Dr. Chris Howard is the president of Robert Morris University, a nationally ranked doctoral-granting institution located near Pittsburgh. A Distinguished Graduate of the US Air Force Academy, he earned a doctorate in politics as a Rhodes Scholar. He also holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. In 2018 he received HBS’s Alumni Achievement Award. Howard’s service to his country began as a helicopter pilot, then as an intelligence officer, where he was assigned to Joint Special Operations Command. He served in Afghanistan in the Air Force Reserve and was awarded the Bronze Star. Howard’s military career concluded as the Reserve Air Attaché to Liberia.
Before RMU, Howard was President of Hampden-Sydney College and Vice President for Leadership & Strategic Initiatives at the University of Oklahoma. He enjoyed a successful corporate career at both General Electric and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Howard has served on the National Security Education Board, appointed by President Barack Obama, the “MyVA” Advisory Committee for the Department of Veterans Affairs as well as gubernatorial commissions in Virginia, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. He also served on the National Defense University board of visitors.
He serves on the boards of the Allegheny Conference, Markle Foundation and St. Clair Hospital. In addition Howard is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, YPO, the Boule, the Trilateral Commission, and is a Henry Crown Fellow. Howard serves of the board of the American Council on Education, the advisory board of With Honor and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. He founded the Impact Young Lives Foundation, a nonprofit that brings South African college students to the US and is married to Barbara Noble Howard. They have two adult sons.
