Chris West has a background in business and development. He helped establish the Shell Foundation in 2000 and was its Director from 2008-2015. In this role he promoted an “enterprise-based” approach to philanthropy, being one of the early advocates of venture philanthropy.  He has helped create and scale up a portfolio of leading social enterprises involved in the provision of clean energy, sustainable mobility and job creation by small and medium sized enterprises.

Chris is currently a co-founder of Sumerian Foundation, which deploys a venture philanthropy approach to support social enterprises tackle social inequality in the UK as well as pro-poor healthcare provision in Africa.