Chris Labash

In addition to his full-time faculty assignments, he is a researcher and faculty member with CMU’s Center for Informed Democracy and Social - Cybersecurity (IDeaS) - Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Disinformation, Hate Speech, & Extremism Online.  He also teaches strategy, communication, innovation, and data visualization to executive audiences in Heinz College’s CIO Institute executive education program. And he regularly consults with CMU’s Software Engineering Institute, as well as other organizations and businesses.

Prior to joining the Carnegie Mellon Faculty in 2003, Chris had a robust business career that spanned the areas of communication, marketing, branding, and advertising for such Fortune 100 technology, financial services, packaged goods, and retail companies as Cisco, Digital Equipment Corporation, Hanes Hosiery, Heinz USA, BNY Mellon, Nabisco, Nationwide Insurance, PNC Bank, Rockwell International, Victoria’s Secret, Westinghouse, and many others.

He’s been Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director at Ketchum Advertising, Vice President of Global Marketing at Development Dimensions International, a management consultant, a serial entrepreneur, and an admitted startup junkie, working with such venture capital firms as Adams Capital, Draper Triangle Ventures, and Meakem Becker Venture Capital.

Chris’ research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of strategy, communication & innovation, and center on the idea of “Truthfinding.” Mapping his course content to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, he engages students in the discovery of all the evidence (and non-evidence) that surrounds an issue, and then guides them in the use of frameworks and tools for evaluation and subsequent recommendations for action.

His current work, in addition to his teaching, is the development of a research project entitled, "Designing for Truth," which looks at how applying principles of communication, influence, persuasion, advertising and design might help audiences better trust accurate information as it is communicated, and marginalize or dispel misinformation and disinformation.