Celebrate the Season of Giving and Bring in the Solstice with Chip Conley & Friends

Chip Conley is the founder and CEO of Modern Elder Academy, the world’s first midlife wisdom school. A hospitality entrepreneur and five-time best-selling author, Chip founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality at age 26 and grew it into the second-largest boutique hotel company in America. At age 52, he was recruited by Airbnb’s young founders to help them scale the company, serving as Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy for four years.

Chip is a three-time TED speaker and the New York Times bestselling author of Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder and Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age.

In 2018 he co-founded MEA to help people in midlife find their own meaningful way to create fulfilling and exciting next chapters for themselves. Since then he has dedicated much of his life to reframing the concept of aging and helping people navigate midlife with renewed purpose and possibility.

Jeff is a co-founder of MEA and helped shape much of the philosophy, teaching style, and curriculum that defines our world-class programming. A teacher, writer, and community builder, Jeff is one of MEA’s most beloved facilitators.

He began his career as a sustainability geek in the 1990s, spending decades as an investor, grant maker, and innovation consultant working with governments and Fortune 500 companies, including NASA, Nike, IKEA, Walmart, and BP. He has also taught sustainability courses at Wharton, Berkeley, and Stanford, and has run a variety of accelerator and incubation programs in the past and have helped raise a lot of capital for social entrepreneurs. He has been volunteering as a venture coach and mentor for beVisioneers since 2025.

Christine Sperber is a former World Cup snowboarder and serial entrepreneur and innovator who has launched and grown award-winning hotels, businesses, and industry-evolving ideas in the sports and hospitality worlds and beyond. The word her workshop participants use most often to describe her is “badass” in recognition of her irrepressible energy and ability to make shit happen.

When Christine moved from being an athlete to the business side of snowboarding in her early 20s, she pretended she was 33 years old because it made it easier to find credibility, especially on the resort side where she often had to work with “crusty old ski coots.” Then one day she finally turned her fake age and has happily welcomed every birthday since then.

Throughout her career, Christine has managed pro athletes and world-class snowboard camps, pioneered game-changing hospitality concepts, introduced the first machine-groomed half pipes on glacial snow when no one else thought it could be done, and created sporting event series that are still happening decades later. On top of all that, she has worn the hats of writer, restaurateur, multimillion dollar sales rep, and more. 

As one of MEA’s founders, Christine co-created the company and was critical in transforming the concept of a Modern Elder Academy into reality. Christine is a devoted team builder whose authenticity, values-based leadership skills, and empathetic engagement create community wherever she focuses her attention. She is a passionate activist and steward of the land and is dedicated to creating transformative experiences that change people’s lives. She makes everything she gets involved in more fun, more meaningful, and more human. 

“As we age, it’s important to continue to play games we aren’t sure we can win.”
– Christine Sperber