Chris Wallace ’17 grew up in a small town in Central Massachusetts and was the first in his family to go to college, thanks in part to Olin’s generous financial aid. The powerful connections he made as a student have carried over to life beyond the Oval and have inspired him to give back.
Olin friend networks run very deep. For alumni trustee Chris Wallace ’17, those connections began to form even before he enrolled.
Already knowing he wanted to be an engineer, an admission mailer touting Olin’s project-based learning and hands-on curriculum caught Wallace’s attention during his junior year of high school. But what truly hooked Wallace was his campus visit.
“I remember that it was just me, one other prospective student and [former dean of admission] Charlie Nolan,” he recalls. “It was a very cool experience, very casual. Charlie spent a lot of time talking with me.”
The only students on campus at the time were the R2s, one of whom was Alex Kessler ’15. “I think I talked to Alex for about two hours that day,” says Wallace. “He took me to see the machine shop, the dorms—a whole unofficial tour. It felt like a special community, not just good marketing.”
That feeling of connection cemented his decision to attend Olin and was reinforced once Wallace arrived on campus, as his peers helped him adapt to a more rigorous curriculum.
I was the first in my family to go to college
I joined Olin feeling like I was behind on things. What quickly changed was how willing my future friends were to help me understand things and work through them and get better."
Chris Wallace
Alumni Trustee from the Class of 2017
“I was the first in my family to go to college,” says Wallace. “I joined Olin feeling like I was behind on things. What quickly changed was how willing my future friends were to help me understand things and work through them and get better.” In no time, Wallace was up to speed and diving deep into his projects.
“Not only were my Olin peers professionally and academically motivating, but they also became my best friends,” explains Wallace. “Four of the groomsmen in my wedding were friends I made at Olin, through hanging out in the dorms or staying up late rushing to finish a project we should have started much earlier than we did.”
During his undergraduate years, he found ways to pay forward those early moments of support. Wallace became a course assistant for a robotics class and helped younger students in computer science courses. He also worked with students on app development and mobile prototyping in a student-taught class. “It was rewarding to teach others and ensure they were doing well,” he says.
“Growing up, ‘peer pressure’ always had a negative connotation, but after Olin, I viewed it positively,” says Wallace. “My friends were not only amazing friends, but they made me a better person in every way through their influence. Being surrounded by motivated and curious peers resulted in the growth of my own ambition and curiosity.”
That ambition brought him to Google, where he spent a fulfilling three years in the company’s product manager program. Eventually, Wallace decided to seek out a smaller company where he could have a larger impact on overall success.
Now, Wallace is a product lead at a smaller fintech company called Upstart. Upstart is a consumer lending platform that applies AI and machine learning to many parts of the lending process, making credit cheaper and more accessible for those who are creditworthy but missing from the system.
The mission feels important to Wallace. “I want to be working on something that I see as net-positive in the world,” he says. “My family did not have access to credit. I know what it felt like not to be able to cover the gap in my student loans.”
At Upstart, Wallace says he has developed new professional strengths. “Getting things done is my superpower!” he says. “I’ve learned how to manage complex stakeholder relationships and bring people across many different business functions together to work as a team toward one goal.” His soft skills and sense of agency are something he most associates with his Olin education.
“By far the decision that had the most positive impact on my personal and professional life was deciding to attend Olin College.
“When I graduated high school, getting a job at a company like Google seemed like something that I could never do. At Olin, seeing people I knew get internships at top tech companies taught me it was something I could do. Going to Olin showed me what was possible and gave me the tools to actually reach for it,” says Wallace.”
Wallace now gives back to the college as a trustee and as a donor. His deep appreciation for his time at Olin and desire to remain connected to his alma mater is what motivates him to continue to lend his time and resources in support of Olin’s mission.
“I want to ensure that in 50 years, Olin continues to offer the type of experience I had,” says Wallace. “I always love being back on campus, talking to students and hearing about some crazy project they’re doing. It’s always interesting to hear about what they’re doing.
“When I think about the experiences in my life that have been transformative, it always comes down to Olin. I want to give back to the school. A huge number of my current best friends, my education and my career—these things are all due to the people I met at Olin. I’m sure it will be true for the next 30 years.”