Christof was appointed Executive Director in May 2021 after serving as Associate Director for two years. He began working with SIL LEAD in 2014 and has managed numerous multi-year and short-term projects. Chris grew up in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Los Angeles as the son of a father who has a PhD in linguistics and a mother who has a PhD in reading. He witnessed firsthand the transformative power that the promotion of minority languages can have on entire language communities. Prior to SIL LEAD, Chris spent ten years in pastoral ministry and ten years as the Latin America economist for a large international money management firm. He received Master's degrees from UCLA and Fuller Theological Seminary.