Christina Elson

Executive Director

John A. Allison IV Executive Director
Center for the Study of Capitalism at Wake Forest University

Dr. Elson is an anthropologist with a research, business, and media background. She is a technology enthusiast and believes well-functioning free markets are the best path for achieving our creative and entrepreneurial potential. She is currently exploring what younger Americans think about capitalism and the norms and attitudes that contribute to the success of entrepreneurs.

Dr. Elson joined Wake Forest in 2020 as the John A. Allison, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Capitalism. The Center leads conversations defining capitalism’s dynamic role in shaping our collective future and brings curiosity, rigor, and an interdisciplinary mindset to those discussions.

In the past, Dr. Elson was a Curatorial Associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. She led research in Mexico exploring bureaucracy, market structures in pre-modern states, how elites organize to gain power and authority, and the limits of political systems. She served as the staff anthropologist for National Geographic Magazine and traveled extensively to visit society-funded researchers working in remote corners of the globe.

From 2018 to 2021, she hosted a podcast called The Inc. Tank that explored the potential impact of artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and blockchain on business, work, and the economy.

Dr. Elson completed her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her MBA in the Executive MBA Program at the University of Maryland, College Park.