Christopher J. Burnham
President

The first President of the Development Finance Authority of Summit County (DFA) since 2000, Chris Burnham has guided and financed numerous development and redevelopment projects in greater Akron and Northeast Ohio. Chris has been instrumental in building DFA into one of the most active economic development financing agencies in the State of Ohio. The Council of Development Finance Agencies has recognized DFA as one of the 15 highest performing development finance agencies in the nation. During his tenure, the DFA has issued over $1.5 billion in economic development bonds, leveraging over $1.7 billion in investment to support community and economic development activity in the region.  In 2011, DFA created the Development Fund of the Western Reserve (DFWR) to be eligible for New Markets Tax Credits and has since allocated over $110million federal NMTC plus $21 million Ohio NMTC. These projects enabled the DFA & DFWR to directly or indirectly be associated with the retention and creation of 32,981 jobs, including thousands of construction jobs. Chris was a lead member of the team that retained the Goodyear Headquarters and Bridgestone Research and Development Center in Akron, along with the 4,000+ local jobs tied to those companies.

Chris is an innovator, guiding DFA and DFWR to finance 145 projects in seventeen Ohio counties. In 2003, DFA established the Jobs & Investment Bond Fund Program, one of only five rated (Standard & Poor’s; A-) bond fund programs in Ohio.  Recently, Chris has led the effort to create and capitalize several mission driven lending programs through the Western Reserve Community Fund, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) staffed and supported by DFA, that is focused on providing capital in economically distressed areas and disadvantaged areas in Northeast Ohio. 

Chris has been and continues to be involved with numerous local community organizations.

Education Background

BA in Education, MA in Urban Studies, The University of Akron.