Chris Vanstone (he/him)

Chief Innovation Officer

Working on Kaurna Land

Chris started his career designing biscuits and razors before transitioning into social innovation almost 20 years ago. As our CIO, he’s responsible for keeping TACSI’s practice at the cutting edge of social innovation, playing a big role in the development of our practice, major initiatives, TACSI’s strategy and stuff we’ve never done before.

Chris’ superpower is making sense of the world around him, and is especially skilled at spotting patterns in what we do, and weaving stories around them. His goal is to democratise social innovation, and is always striving towards new ways to get important concepts into the world in ways that people understand.

Recent highlights in his work include developing a foundation course in social innovation, developing thinking about Social R&D, supporting the development of the Innovation Hub at the Australian Volunteers Program, writing about what we’ve learnt in our major initiatives (like the Future of Home and Our Town) and working to develop the Many Threads framework for allyship with Indigenous Peoples, Knowledges and Country. 

Outside work, Chris is passionate about his sons, finding music he’s never heard before, and learning to make and cook everything.


Recent writing includes:


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