Chris Gardner

Born February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Christopher Gardner never knew his father. He lived with his mother, Bettye Jean Gardner, whom he adored, and, when necessary, in foster homes. Despite a life of hardship and emotional scarring, his mother provided him with strong "spiritual genetics" and taught him some of the greatest lessons of his life, which he follows to this day.

She convinced him that in spite of where he came from, he could attain whatever goals he set for himself by saying, "If you want to, one day you could make a million dollars." Gardner believed this to be fact, and knew he would have to find a career he could be passionate about, and one that would allow him to "be world-class at something."

Though hard working and tenacious, a series of circumstances in the early 1980’s left him homeless in San Francisco and the sole guardian of his toddler son. Though unwilling to give up Chris, Jr. or his dream of financial independence, and without connections or a college degree, he still somehow earned a spot in a stockbroker training program. Often spending his nights in a church shelter or the bathroom at a train station in Oakland, Gardner ended up the sole trainee offered a job at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981.

Today, he’s the CEO of Christopher Gardner International Holdings, a company he founded with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. The amazing story of his life was published as an autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, and is the inspiration for the new movie of the same name starring Will Smith.