Christopher Kutarna (2007 - 2008)

Canada

Christopher is an intense person:  a sponge for new knowledge and a constant font of original thinking.  His enthusiasm to ignite the ideas in his head consistently draws together talented people and abundant resources to see them become real.  Currently based in Beijing, he’s focusing his energies into three spheres of action:  scholarship, entrepreneurship and public engagement. 

Prior to becoming a Sauve Scholar, Christopher was the lead China researcher and draft-writer for the best-selling non-fiction book ‘Globality’, published in 2008 and already reprinted in more than ten languages.  He followed up that work with his first novel, ‘Today is Blue’, which prior to publication has already been dubbed “a 21st century Joy Luck Club” by China’s largest-circulation daily, and “a must-read for Westerners with a serious need to know modern China” by one of Canada’s leading sinologists.  He intends to continue his China scholarship with doctoral research into the application of modern Chinese political theory to contemporary Western political debates. 

At Sauvé House Christopher sought to unearth new insights into the relationships between entrepreneurship, wealth creation, poverty and giving.  Public equity was the result.  Public equity is an innovative corporate ownership model that puts the profits of consumer goods companies into the service of under-funded social agendas.  The first venture to test the model is Moniker, Inc., a rapidly growing online luxury menswear studio that Christopher launched shortly after completing the Sauvé program.  Christopher has aggressive plans to extend the public equity model to a variety of other ventures going forward. 

The number and variety of people and organizations who need to understand China is exploding, and as a rising expert in the field Christopher consults selectively to government, large enterprise and investors, with a focus on the Chinese manufacturing, energy and resource sectors.  He regularly speaks to Canadian media on China-related news topics, and follows the progress of the Saskatchewan Roughriders wherever he goes.

Christopher graduated with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from University of Oxford, England and also holds an Honours degree in Commerce from Carleton University, Canada.