Chris Pears
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Chris Pears’ background of fourteen years of corporate experience at Credit Suisse and Cargill followed by ten years teaching at Minnetonka Public Schools makes him uniquely qualified to develop and implement educational programming that not only provides a strong academic foundation to the student but also gives that student the real and relevant experiences necessary to succeed in a professional career:

  • Getting his MBA at the Tuck School at  Dartmouth gave him a clear understanding of the importance of making academic learning real, relevant and rigorous.  He saw how small group-work on projects for clients and real world case studies forces the student to develop the interactive skills needed to succeed in business.

  • During his ten years at Cargill investing in high yield and corporate restructurings, he built a training program for incoming analysts, which put all learning in a relevant, real-world context to enable each new hire to become a successful investment analyst.

  • As an award winning high school teacher at Minnetonka High School he saw, once again, that what worked for him personally as a way to learn was the same for the high school students sitting before him: real and relevant learning in a collaborative environment yielded the best results.

  • This belief  formed the basis for VANTAGE, the professional studies program he founded and developed for three years at Minnetonka High School. In  this program he saw the tremendous impact you can have on students when you put them in a professional environment, where they can link the material they are learning to the real world.  It also forced them to develop those skills you just can’t Google - like being creative, working as a team or thinking critically, those skills that he knew the  corporate world are craving for the next generation of workers.

All of these experiences came together as he developed Career Ingrained Learning. Chris wants to help schools establish Career Ingrained Learning and provide to their students a phenomenal learning experience that empowers young people to succeed both in college and in their future careers.
  • Co-Founder and former Program Director, VANTAGE Program, Minnetonka Schools

  • WEM Regional Outstanding Educator Award for Teacher Achievement, 2015

  • Best High School Teacher, Lake Minnetonka Magazine, 2013

  • Featured on WCCO “Minnesotans to Meet” 2015

  • Minnetonka School District “Honored Teacher ” Award. Recognition by AP National Scholar and National Merit Semi Final Students: seven  successive years

  • Co-Chair Instructional Leadership Team., Minnetonka High School 2011-13

  • Minnetonka School District “Excellence in Teaching” award (2011),  “Excellence in Collaboration” award (2014)

  • 14 years business experience as Executive with Credit Suisse and Cargill. Board member of Brunner Mond and Woods Equipment

  • BA, MA Oxford University, MBA Dartmouth College, M. Ed. University of Saint Thomas, Principal Licensure, Saint Mary’s