Chris Searles

Active in environmental sustainability since 2005, Chris has worked in many capacities and acquired a broad range of professional experience. As an entrepreneur he founded GoodCommonSense.net in 2005 and ran that business until selling it in 2015.  

In 2015, Chris started BioIntegrity, a for-profit focused on connecting altruistic donors to the most economically efficient environmental solutions in the world. So far, BioIntegrity donors have protected more than 8,000 threatened species and kept more than 10,000,000 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Chris served on the board for Treefolks.org (2008-12), helping grow the org’s reputation and facilitate its transition to a new executive director. He is also a founder and former board member on The Interfaith Environmental Network. 

As an Austin environmental advocate (2009-2011) Chris established productive relationships with leaders at City Hall and Austin Energy. Chris founded and facilitated the Austin Energy Transparency Working Group, which incorporated traditionally opposed business leaders, environmental and social justice advocates, and led to Austin Energy’s updated and vastly improved corporate transparency policies. 

Chris’s eco engagement projects include: producing an all-local green festival series (2006-07), which showcased more than 300 local businesses and environmental groups and attracted more than 20,000 attendees; co-founding UT Austin McComb’s School of Business’s “Sustainable Business Summit” (2008) and producing “Green Tips from Great Kids” a K-12 interactive project, which resulted in more than 2,000 pieces of green, educational art (2008). 

Chris’s other vocation — as a musician (drummer), includes touring and/or recording with: Shawn Colvin, James McMurtry, The Flatlanders, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Alejandro Escovedo, Joe Ely, Kelly Willis, Bruce Robison, and many more. In 1989 Chris received a full scholarship to attend the University of Texas as a music major.