Christopher Wink speaking at the fourth DisruptHR Philadelphia in October 2017.

About

Christopher Wink is a journalist and entrepreneur who is cofounder and CEO of Technical.ly, the news organization with a community of technologists and entrepreneurs. He specializes in local economic development, including entrepreneurship and tech workforce trends, journalism strategy and building trust online. He was previously publisher of Generocity.org, which reports on the nonprofit sector, and a former media director for a homeless advocacy nonprofit. He is lead organizer of Philly Tech Week, cofounder of Baltimore Innovation Week and is behind other events that bring together smart people. In 2022, Wink was named one of Pennsylvania’s most influential impact leaders, and in 2017 Folio magazine listed him as one of the 100 most innovative media leaders in the country.

Wink produced a documentary while living in Ghana and was part of an NBC digital travel series while studying in Tokyo. He hosted a storytelling podcast that featured the likes of National Book Award finalist Danez Smith, Daily Show correspondent Dulce Sloan and the hip hop mogul T.I. Wink is on the board of the project-based Workshop School, and was a founding board member of youth tech training nonprofit Coded by Kids, in addition to serving as a longtime board member of both journalists-only Pen & Pencil Club and Leadership Philadelphia. The Temple University alumnus is a bicycle commuter and resident of the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Wink reads a lot of books, makes a lot of charts, drinks a lot of whiskey and harbors fantasies of being a fiction writer worth reading. He is available for public speaking and strategic facilitation.

(Headshot here or here)

christopher wink constitutiion center
Moderating a panel on web privacy, at the National Constitution Center in January 2012, as broadcast on CSPAN2.

I grew up in northwest New Jersey, a rural community quickly incorporating an intensifying suburban expansion, protected by a kind family of warmth and privilege. My studies at Temple University brought me to Philadelphia, a big urban city with a complex of defeatism and 10 million other reasons for the young and curious to devote themselves to it. Through work and travel, I came to learn that I care most about how new communities come together and strengthen over time. I like cities, density and the quirks of locality.

I have intense interest in government, urban politics, travel, and stories of community and humanity. In my youth, I studied in West Africa, lived in Japan, and traveled through Eastern China and Western Europe, all on my own, with pen in hand and eyes wide open. Read about other experiences here.

Site History:

  • V 1.0: I first bought ChristopherWink.com sometime in 2005, built a simple site using Dreamweaver before struggling to find a reason why and letting it lapse.
  • V 2.0: I bought ChristopherWink.com again and forwarded it to a WordPress.com blog I launched on Dec. 3, 2007  to leave a footprint in what was the always expanding Internet community.
  • V 3.0: During the first week of July 2009, I moved that blog content from WordPress.com to an independently-hosted version.
  • V 3.5: In September 2013, I updated my WordPress theme for the first time, opting for a simpler, responsive platform with more flexible posting options.
  • V 3.6: In October 2015, I updated my WordPress theme, choosing “Twenty Fifteen” for its lighter coloring and lightweight feel.