Christopher Bancroft Burnham (born 1956) is and American business executive, public servant, and politician. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of Cambridge Global Capital, LLC and chairman of the board of
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. He has served as Under Secretary General for Management of the United Nations, Assistant Secretary of State for Resource Management and chief financial officer of the U.S. Department of State. He was a three-term Member of the
Connecticut House of Representatives
The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...
,
Connecticut State Treasurer as well as vice chairman of
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
Asset Management and global co-head of private equity.
Early life and education
Burnham was raised in
Stamford, Connecticut. His father, Alexander O. Burnham, was the managing editor of
Dodd, Mead & Company and an author.
Burnham earned an undergraduate degree from Washington and Lee University and a master's degree in public administration from
Harvard Kennedy School
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
.
Career
Burnham is a veteran of the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
and a veteran of the first
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
. He led one of the first infantry units to reach and liberate
Kuwait City in 1991.
From 1987 to 1992 he was a representative in the Connecticut General Assembly.
Burnham was elected
Connecticut State Treasurer in 1994,
defeating the
Democratic incumbent
Joseph M. Suggs Jr. Burnham resigned effective July 22, 1997, to become president and chief executive officer of Columbus Circle Investors, an investment firm based in
Stamford, Connecticut. Because Burnham had previously hired the firm to manage $150 million of the state's pension funds, his decision to join the company came under criticism.
Burnham was an investment banker with
Credit Suisse First Boston
Credit Suisse First Boston (also known as CSFB and CS First Boston) is the investment banking affiliate of Credit Suisse headquartered in New York.
The company was created by the merger of First Boston Corporation and Credit Suisse Group in 1988 ...
and Advest Corporate Finance. He was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives three times, and served as assistant minority leader.
In 2020, Burnham was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the member of the
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board is an independent agency of the United States government by the Federal Employees Retirement System Act of 1986. It has roughly 270 employees. It was established to administer the Thrift Savings Plan ...
(FRTIB).
United Nations
Burnham joined the United Nations in 2005
after serving as acting Under Secretary of State for Management for Secretary
Condoleezza Rice, and as Assistant Secretary of State for resource management and chief financial officer of the State Department for General
Colin Powell. He established the first UN Ethics Office, the first United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee, the adoption of new International Public Sector Accounting Standards, the first comprehensive consolidated annual report in the history of the United Nations, and a new whistleblower protection policy that received independent recognition as the “gold standard.”
During his time as under secretary general for management at the UN, Burnham uncovered extensive evidence of fraud involving the purchase of equipment for peacekeeping operations amounting to tens of millions of dollars. The investigation led to the suspension with pay of eight officials from the offices of peacekeeping and management.
Personal
Burnham married Courtney Anne Bauer in 1993.
Burnham was a resident of
Stamford and
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
, Connecticut. He served on President Donald Trump's transition team at the U.S. State Department in 2016.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnham, Christopher
1956 births
Living people
American chief executives of financial services companies
American chief operating officers
United States Marine Corps personnel of the Gulf War
Businesspeople from New York City
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Kent School alumni
Republican Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives
Military personnel from New York City
People from Stamford, Connecticut
State treasurers of Connecticut
United States foreign policy
United States Marine Corps reservists
Washington and Lee University alumni
20th-century American businesspeople
United States Marine Corps colonels