Founding Principal
Hakuba International School  

Japan Hub | ASIA

Chris Balme is an education leader and writer, passionate about helping young people discover more of their human potential. He is the Founding Principal of Hakuba International School, an international school in Japan focused on environmental sustainability and well-being.

Prior to this work, Chris was Co-Founder and Head of School at Millennium School, a lab school in San Francisco, where he helped pioneer new learning methods based in developmental science. Chris also founded Argonaut, an online program to bring social-emotional learning to more students.

Chris received the Ashoka Fellowship as a leading global changemaker in education, and regularly speaks, trains, and writes for parents and teachers around the world. He’s the author of the book Finding the Magic in Middle School, published in September 2022. Chris is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School of Business, and lives in Northern California with his wife and three children.