Chris Allison

Chris Allison is a teacher, philanthropist, and former technology CEO entrepreneur. He spent sixteen years as a co-founder and senior executive of a Pittsburgh-based tech company before returning to his alma mater, Allegheny College, where he has taught business and entrepreneurship for nearly two decades.

In the classroom, Chris built his teaching around the case study method — the same approach used at Harvard Business School — because he believes the most useful lessons in business and in life come from real people facing real decisions, not from abstract theory.

His first book, Hit It! A Tech Startup Story & Seven Rules for Entrepreneurs, distilled what he learned building and running a company. Forged in Fire is its companion — twelve true stories of transformation drawn from history, faith, sport, art, the military, and the author’s own family.

Chris writes for readers who want to understand how strong people are made: not by avoiding hardship, but by walking through it. He lives in northwestern Pennsylvania, runs marathons (slowly, by his own admission), and is at work on his next book.