Christopher Stone

Christopher Stone has been selected as the new president of the Open Society Foundations, effective July 2012. He has served since 2005 as the Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. Before that, Stone spent a decade as director of the Vera Institute of Justice. He has been a board member of the Open Society Justice Initiative since 2004.

Stone is an international expert on criminal justice reform and on the leadership and governance of nonprofits. He has guided the start-up of eight nonprofit organizations working to advance justice and respect for human dignity. He founded the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and served as a founding director of the New York State Capital Defender Office and of the Altus Global Alliance.

Stone received his AB from Harvard, an MPhil. in criminology from the University of Cambridge, and his JD from Yale Law School. He was awarded an honorary Order of the British Empire for his contributions to criminal justice reform in the United Kingdom.