CHRIS L. NEWBOLD
Chief Operating Officer
Chris is COO of ALPS Corporation and ALPS Property & Casualty Insurance Company, positions he has held since 2007. Chris joined ALPS in 2002 and has served in a senior executive capacity since 2007.
Externally within legal circles, Chris is a recognized nationally for his roles as a strategic planning facilitator to bar associations and bar foundations, his leadership work to transform the legal profession’s approach to well-being and his work to advise states regulators and / or bar associations on insurance industry perspective regarding mandatory malpractice insurance requirements or stricter client disclosure rules around malpractice coverage.
On the strategic planning front, Chris’ lawyer credentials, knowledge of legal industry trends and keen observations into bar association relevance catapulted him into one of the most sought after facilitators of legal conversations nationally. Chris' unique and innovative strategic planning approach have resulted in his leading retreats and legal conversations at the national, state and local levels, including with State Bars in Alaska, Kansas, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota, North Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations, the National Conference of Bar Presidents and the Institute for Well-Being in Law.
On the issue of well-being in the legal profession, Chris has been at the strategic epicenter of the well-being movement since its launch. In 2023, Chris is serving as President of the Institute for Well-Being in Law, an organization he helped found in 2020. As a co-author of the movement launching 2016 report The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change, his leadership as co-chair of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being, his participation on the ABA’s Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession and his role as podcast co-host The Path to Well-Being in Law podcast, Chris has been at the forefront of a movement intent on creating a culture shift in the legal profession, and advancing personal and professional satisfaction in all sectors of legal life.
Chris has also been active nationally advising State Bars, regulators and state Supreme Courts on the viability of requiring lawyers to maintain malpractice insurance as a condition of licensure. Given Chris’ insurance industry knowledge and understanding of the small firms / solo practitioner niche, his insights have been additive to conversations in states like Nevada, Washington, California and Idaho. Chris is also well versed in alternatives to mandatory insurance like client disclosure rules.
Chris received his law degree from the University of Montana School of Law in 2001 and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1994). Following his graduation from law school, he served one year as a law clerk for the Honorable Terry N. Trieweiler of the Montana Supreme Court. After his clerkship, he launched his ALPS career as President and principal consultant of ALPS Foundation Services, a non-profit fundraising and philanthropic management consulting firm. In that capacity, he authored The Complete Guide to Bar Foundations in conjunction with the National Conference of Bar Foundations.
Outside of law, Chris has previously served as board chair of University of Montana Alumni Association and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Missoula, authored two children’s book about collegiate mascots (The Big Bucky Badger Mystery (Wisconsin) and The Wild Wolf Pack Mystery (Nevada)) and enjoys his Montana lifestyle with his wife, Jennifer, and their three children, Cameron, Mallory and Lauren.