Christopher Burnham

Christopher Bancroft Burnham (born 1956) is an 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 EN+ Group. He has served as Under Secretary-General for Management of the United Nations, acting Under Secretary of State for Management, and Assistant Secretary of State for Resource Management and chief financial officer of the U.S. Department of State. He served three terms as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, and was then Connecticut State Treasurer, as well as vice chairman of Deutsche Bank Asset Management and global co-head of private equity.

Early life and education Born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut, Burnham's father, Alexander O. Burnham, was the managing editor of Dodd, Mead & Company and an author.

After attending the Kent School in Kent, Connecticut, Burnham worked on the staff of Senator Lowell Weicker from 1977 to 1978, and earned a B.A. degree from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, in 1980, and a master's degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School. In January 1986, he was appointed to the Stamford Republican Town Committee, and later that year challenged longtime political operative Constantine Brandi for the chairmanship of that committee. defeating the Democratic incumbent Joseph M. Suggs Jr. During his tenure, Burnham advocated structural changes to professionalize the office and reduce its dependence on electoral politics. He proposed creation of a six-member board of trustees drawn from the private sector to advise the treasurer on investment decisions involving the state employee pension fund, then valued at $14.5 billion. In the private sector, Burnham also worked as an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston and Advest Corporate Finance.

Returning to public service in the first administration of President George W. Bush, Burnham served 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. In 2005, he was awarded the United States Secretary of State's Award for Distinguished Service. 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.

Post-United Nations career In 2016, Burnham served on the transition team of President Donald Trump at the U.S. State Department.

In the 2020s, Burnham has served as the chairman and chief executive officer of Cambridge Global Capital, LLC, a venture capital investment firm, and the associated Cambridge Analytics, a geopolitical analysis firm. By 2022, he had also become chairman of the board of EN+ Group.

Personal life In 1993, Burnham married Courtney Anne Bauer of Delray Beach, Florida, then a regional advertising sales manager for Modern Healthcare magazine.

Burnham has been a resident of Stamford and Greenwich, Connecticut.