Chris has more than 21 years of experience in conducting natural resource investigations and environmental impact analyses. She was previously employed by an international engineering and environmental consulting firm where she was responsible for the coordination of interdisciplinary staff and consultant teams in the formulation, design, and execution of ecological resource evaluations, monitoring programs, environmental restoration programs, site selection studies, and environmental impact assessments. Chris also served as a biologist for a small firm conducting biological field surveys and aquatic toxicology investigations and worked with a team of researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center to study population dynamics of fish and invertebrates of a tributary of Chesapeake Bay.

Chris obtained a bachelor's degree in Marine Science from Stockton State College and attended graduate studies in Environmental Science at Montclair State College.