Chris Bashinelli
Chris Bashinelli, National Geographic Explorer, will serve as the keynote speaker for SUNY Fredonia’s Bicentennial Convocation.
The event is slated for Friday, Sept. 18 at 2 p.m. in King Concert Hall. The event is free, but registration is required.
It will begin with a traditional processional of students, faculty, and staff, along with delegates from other universities.
Mr. Bashinelli, known as “Bash,” is a TV host and globally recognized speaker on human connection. He travels the world exploring what drives happiness, purpose, and belonging in life and business. With immersive experience in over 40 countries, Bash helps organizations reignite employee inspiration and foster a culture of genuine connection.
When invited to speak, Bash enthusiastically accepted, stating: “SUNY changed my life! I traveled to Tanzania through SUNY. I owe my entire life mission to the State University of NY and would be overjoyed to speak at SUNY Fredonia.”
Born in Brooklyn, New York to Lebanese and Italian-American parents, Bash’s worldview was shaped on his childhood “stoop,” where his friends shared more than 13 nationalities. After a decade-long acting career, including a role on the hit HBO TV series “The Sopranos,” Bash traded the red carpet for the road, launching “Bridge the Gap,” a global documentary series featured on PBS and National Geographic Channel.
His adventures have taken him from living with nomads in Mongolia, to harvesting tea in China, to Sumo wrestling the heaviest Japanese human in recorded history. He fully embeds himself in different worlds as a modern-day Cultural Anthropologist — learning from Ugandan mystics, Mongolian herdsmen, Lakota suicide prevention activists and some of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People on the Planet.
A passionate advocate for mental wellness and happiness, Bash has studied mindfulness and meditation for over 20 years. Following the loss of his father to cancer when he was 20 years old, he began a lifelong mission to understand the human condition. Through his service work, he has brought mindfulness to inmates across federal and state prisons and to veterans of nearly every major conflict since World War II.
As a keynote speaker, Bash has headlined events for AT&T, American Express, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, the Federal Reserve Bank and the Million Dollar Round Table. Bash has shared the stage with Stevie Wonder and Michael Douglas, and at just 24, became the youngest person to moderate the United Nations International Day of Peace. His latest film explores friendship with his adoptive grandfather, actor Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior on “The Sopranos”). His work has been featured in Delta Sky Magazine, Lonely Planet, Huffington Post and the Daily News Zimbabwe. He’s also an Eagle Scout and guest host on the Be Here Now podcast network.
“We need more people like Chris in the world,” noted the late Dr. Jane Goodall.
The event is supported by the Maytum Lecture Endowment and the Williams Visiting Professorship Endowment, both established through the Fredonia College Foundation.
