Human Development and Family Studies
Dr. Christian A. Friend is the President of C.A. Friend Consulting and the Executive Director of Accountability for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS). Christian received a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.

Christian also holds a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from UNC Greensboro which he received in 2009. His professional goals have always been closely connected to his personal desires to improve the lives of others.

He began his career as a high school social studies teacher for CMS. Christian has also served as a Youth Services Specialist for the Charlotte Housing Authority, the Director of Community and Research Services for the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, a Senior Relationship Manager United Way of Central Carolinas, Executive Project Director for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ Achievement Zone, Director of CMS’s Center for Research and Evaluation, and Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Evaluation for Project L.I.F.T. in Charlotte.

Christian has published several articles in pier reviewed academic journals and is esteemed as a local expert in planning, evaluation and non-profit and human services. Christian is an alumnus of the Community Building Initiative’s Leadership Development Initiative and the Wildacres Leadership Initiative’s William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations. He currently sits on the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Community Leadership Council and volunteers as Executive Pastor of True Destiny Christian Church.

Christian lives in Charlotte and is married to the love of his life Stephanie.