Christopher K. Tucker

Who is Christopher K. Tucker?

Christopher K. Tucker is businessman and social entrepreneur active in the geospatial industry and the US national security community, and as Principal of Yale House Ventures, manages a portfolio of technology startups and social ventures.

He was the founding chief strategic officer of In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital fund, charged with developing In-Q-Tel's overall strategy for tackling the priority information technologies problems of the agency. Tucker worked with the original CIA team, which later became known as the In-Q-Tel Interface Center, to define and set up the original organization.

Before joining In-Q-Tel, Tucker served as special adviser to the executive vice provost of Columbia University. While at Columbia, Tucker co-founded the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes and the Columbia Public Policy Consortium, and co-taught courses at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Tucker stepped down as senior vice president for the Americas and national programs at ERDAS in November 2008; about the same time his name was being floated in back channel conversations for a position at CIA. He joined ERDAS by way of its acquisition of IONIC Enterprise, where Tucker had served as president and CEO since leaving In-Q-Tel.