Christopher Scheidel
Executive, Chief Information Officer, and CIO in Hartford, Connecticut
Christopher Scheidel is a father, international Fortune 100 CIO, entrepreneur, and musician who continuously seeks to combine over 20 years of technology, finance, and media production experience.
As Chief Information Officer and Vice President of MassMutual’s Japan subsidiary, Christopher led the delivery of a new administration platform, drove the introduction of new digital business submission tools, and reorganized and strengthened the IT organization culminating in a successful majority sale to Japan’s largest life insurer. Prior to this, Christopher led the redesign of MassMutual’s general investment account operations and platform transformation.
Bilingual Japanese and English and with nearly a decade of living and working overseas, Christopher enjoys utilizing leadership perspectives from multiple cultures, applying this experience in numerous executive liaison and CEO and CTO advisory roles at MassMutual. Holding both artistic and intellectual pursuits, Christopher's passion has been to harness inspirations from across multiple domains and combine them in impactful ways.
As a pioneering podcaster, a fondness for audio production and cultural studies launched Finding Japan in 2005, now one of Japan’s longest-running podcasts. As a entrepreneur, Christopher’s passion for machine learning and background in investment management led to the launch of Gatsiva, a time-series analysis engine for financial markets. A love of productivity and automation was harness to develop Speak It To Me, a free to use article to audio converter. In his most recent role at MassMutual, his strong technology background, study of leadership, and cultural savvy culminated the successful turnaround of an IT organization, now well-prepared to tackle its next phase of business growth.
Comfortable working in C-level roles or at a rehearsal studio in Tokyo, he holds a unique combination of broad technology know-how, imaginative thinking, and proven executive and organizational leadership that draws on a passion for creativity. Previously he has held the roles of Application Developer, Architect, Enterprise Architect, Security Architect, Advisor to the CTO, Advisor to the CEO, and Managing Director.
Christopher lives in Connecticut with his wife and three children. He earned an International MBA from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina and holds a B.S. degree in computer science from Syracuse University.