Christopher Douglas Meek (born September 30, 1970) is an philanthropist and American businessman. Meek is the founder and Chairman of START Now! and SoldierSocks.com and is a Vice President at Goldman Sachs & Company. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Yerwood Center (Stamford, CT), St. Luke’s LifeWorks (Stamford, CT), and Career Resources, Inc. (Bridgeport, CT).Meek is also Chairman of the Life Long Learning Committee at St. Luke’s LifeWorks.

Early life, education and family:

Meek was born (September 30, 1970) in Elmira, New York to Douglas and Camille Meek. An only child, his parents divorced in 1972. After brief moves to Clearwater, Florida and Binghamton, NY, Meek and his mother moved back to Elmira and lived with his grandparents, George and Marion Giroux, until 1981. George and Marion Giroux were instrumental in raising Meek as his mother worked during the day and attended Elmira College at night, where she would earn her Bachelor’s Degree in Education and Master Degree in Speech Pathology.

Meek attended and graduated from Elmira Free Academy in Elmira, New York. In 1988, Meek attended Syracuse University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship in 1992. Meek studied for a degree in Financial Management at Pace University (New York, NY) and graduated with a Masters in Business Administration in 1999.

While attending Syracuse University, Meek interned for U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato from 1990 – 1992 in his Syracuse Regional Office. This led to Senator D’Amato asking Meek to run his Central New York Re-Election campaign committee during the 1992 Senatorial Race versus New York State Attorney General John Abrams. Senator D’Amato went on to defeat Abrams in that race.

Meek currently lives in Stamford, CT with his wife, Christine, and their two daughters.

Career and community activism:

After graduating from Syracuse University during the recession of 1992, Meek worked for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Syracuse, New York from 1992 – 1993. He then worked for Dean Witter Reynolds from 1993 – 1995. In October 1995, Meek moved from Syracuse to New York City and began working for Hull Trading Company, a Chicago-based options market-making firm. In July 1997 Hull Trading was acquired by Goldman Sachs and Company. Meek ran the firms’ floor-based trading operations from 1999 – 2002. Goldman Sachs later acquired another market making firm, Spear, Leeds & Kellogg. The units were combined and Meek was asked to manage the floor trading risk for the larger group. In April 2004 Meek moved to the institutional trading desk at Goldman Sachs & Company.

In April, 2009 Meek held his first in a series of loan modification events at the Yerwood Center in Stamford. The event consisted of 5 banks and several agencies offering foreclosure assistance. The program enabled 36 families to modify their mortgage, avoid going into foreclosure and losing their homes. The success and public request for more programs led Meek to create the not-for-profit START Now! in May 2009. Meek held subsequent loan modification events in May 2009, again at the Yerwood Center, and August 2009 at the Capitol Building in Hartford.

START Now! is a not-for-profit designed to help individuals and families become self-sufficient by educating and providing them with the support and opportunities available in society and allowing them to become thriving members of the community.

In July 2009 Meek received a request asking for help in obtaining hygienic items for our soldiers in Afghanistan. This led him to create another not-for-profit SoldierSocks.com. SoldierSocks.com provides people a way to donate so our men and women serving in the Middle East can obtain simple things like socks and baby wipes. SoldierSocks.com is partnered with the Athlete’s Foot (Stamford), Hope Street Pharmacy (Stamford), UPS Store (Norwalk) and works with the Marine Air Lift Unit 49 and Air National Guard out of Stewart Air Base in Newburgh, New York. Meek currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Yerwood Center, Saint Luke’s LifeWorks and Career Resources, Inc. He is also the Chairman of the Life Long Learning Committee at Saint Luke’s, which focuses on the problems that contribute to homelessness including sobriety, personal safety issues and lack of education. Participants in the program help develop a life plan that will guide them from homelessness to self-sufficiency.

In April 2009 Meek founded the Stamford Young Republicans. Working with the Stamford Republican Town Committee, Meek was quickly approached by other Town Committee’s in Fairfield County. In July 2009, the Stamford Young Republicans evolved into Our CT GOP. The goal behind the organization is to create a platform where all those interested can come and be heard. Using this organization, a greater number of citizens can be a part of the decision making process. Our CT GOP currently partners with eleven Republican Town Committees stretching from Greenwich to West Hartford and works with the Connecticut Union of College Republicans helping to build and promote the Republican party on the college level.