Chris Bell, Senior Program Officer

By his own admission, Chris Bell followed a most indirect path to his current role at Pinkerton.  Tax preparer, hospital orderly, walk-on extra in the movie “Jaws” were some of the stops on the way to a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and a master’s in public administration from the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU. Degrees in hand, Chris went to work as a budget analyst in the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Two years later, in 1991, he joined Pinkerton as a Program Associate. Among his many roles at the Foundation, Chris led Pinkerton’s work in the youth justice field. He was one of the architects of The Pinkerton Fellows Program at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a strong voice in the New York Juvenile Justice Initiative, and a good friend and mentor to a wide range of alternative-to-incarceration and prisoner reentry programs throughout the city. After twenty-two years with the Foundation, Chris retired in 2013.