Chris Armstrong has been with City Light for a little over six years. After working as the internship coordinator, Chris transitioned to his current role as an outreach and engagement specialist on the Communications team.
Before coming to Seattle, Chris lived in Champaign, Illinois for twelve years where he received his master’s degree in Human Resources Management and then went on to work at the University of Illinois. Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Chris moved to Seattle to “experience a different part of the country, to explore the PNW, and to live in a big city.”
“I grew up around Dayton which many know for its history in powered flight, and as it turns out, I’m related to the Wright Brothers!” Chris shared.
In this week’s (spot)Light, Chris talks more about his favorite activities, his work at City Light and what he loves about City Light!
Chris at Firehole Canyon in Yellowstone National Park
“In the past two years, I’ve gotten into van camping in a big way. I have a small adventure van (named Grayson) that I outfitted with a customized camping conversion, mini kitchen, bed, canopy, and cargo pod to stash my inflatable kayak. I took it out for a weeklong road trip to Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. It was a blast!”
Grayson the adventure van among the Montana mountains
“My current role is as an outreach and engagement specialist on the Communications team. What that means is I support a variety of programs geared toward our employees and our customers. Many colleagues know me from all-employee meetings or strategic forum. But I work on other cool projects, like our Energy Heroes school education programs for students in grades 1-8 and our STEAM in Power Workshop, where we highlight career paths at City Light around science, technology, engineering, arts, and math for young women of color participating in a local community program called SPIN Girls. It’s always fun to find creative and new ways to reach our employees and the communities we serve.”
“I love that City Light is a non-for-profit public utility. I’ve mostly worked in the public sector and higher education, and I’m driven by the missions of these institutions. The fact that we are a green utility focused on environment, helping customers, and striving for equity all spoke to me. Plus, the job was a perfect blend of my background working with students, building programs, and having human resources experience. The number one thing I love about working for City Light are my colleagues—all y’all! It’s wonderful to partner with dedicated, caring, and hard-working people across this utility. They make those harder days brighter, and hopefully I can do the same for them. Stay bright, City Light!”