Christian Hartranft

Christian Hartranft

Director, Operations and Strategic Initiatives, Office of the President

Christian serves as Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the President at the Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. In this role, he oversees operations, executive communications, and support services within the Office of the President; leads organization-wide projects that contribute to the Institute’s development and ability to deliver its mission; and helps to explore, develop, and launch strategic initiatives that deepen the impacts of the Institute in the world.

From 2013-2017, Christian worked in the Office of the President at Franklin & Marshall College, a national liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There, his responsibilities included supporting the College’s strategic efforts to recruit, finance, educate, and launch substantially more students from lower-income backgrounds; integrating and coordinating the work of the College’s advancement, admissions, and communications offices in support of institutional priorities; and managing the president’s public voice and strategic communications. He also served on the team that launched the American Talent Initiative—an alliance of more than 100 top colleges and universities committed to addressing the national challenge of the underrepresentation of lower-income students in higher education.

Christian has worked previously in a variety of capacities to create opportunity for lower-income, immigrant, and other historically marginalized communities—including with clients seeking public legal assistance in his home state of Delaware and with families completing state and federal income taxes in Lancaster.

Christian holds a master’s degree in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in Government from Franklin & Marshall College.