Hon. Kurt Summers

Hon. Kurt Summers

As Chicago’s newest City Treasurer, Kurt Summers is the steward of the city’s $7 billion dollar investment portfolio and is responsible for maintaining records and accounts of the city’s finances while ensuring transparency and accountability for all of the city's transactions. The Treasurer also serves as a trustee or fiduciary on five of the City's public employee pension boards with nearly $25 billion under management. After taking office less than one year ago on Dec. 1, 2014, Summers hit the ground running. He immediately launched a listening tour to meet residents, business owners and community leaders in each of Chicago's 77 neighborhoods in just 77 days. Summers also released a 90-Day Plan that has served as a roadmap to transform the Treasurer's Office and is focused on leveraging Chicago’s economic power to increase investment in its residents, workers, businesses and neighborhoods. The ideas and findings in the plan were driven by the voices of more than a thousand individuals the Treasurer met while visiting each of Chicago's 77 communities. Treasurer Summers serves as the City's banker, investor and advocate to empower young people, workers and small business owners, as well as programs that promote economic growth and financial education. Since taking office, Summers has launched a savings initiative for Chicago's 11 public employee pension funds that has the potential to save the funds $25-$50 million a year. He has implemented a model for public transparency with a new quarterly earnings call that provides an update on the City's finances and investment portfolio, and proposed a new banking ordinance that will hold banks to a higher standing when it comes to investing in our neighborhoods. Summers is also leading Chicago's first-ever, city-wide financial education plan. Recently appointed chair of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, Summers has made investing in the long-term growth, job creation and economic development of every Chicago neighborhood a top priority. Summers began his career at McKinsey & Company, a preeminent global strategy-consulting firm. Most recently, he served as a Senior Vice President at Grosvenor Capital Management and as a member of the Office of the Chairman. In that role, Summers was a leader of the Emerging and Diverse Manager business, which invested over $2 billion with minority- and women-owned firms. With nearly 15 years of experience in the financial services community, a background rooted in service to others has guided Treasurer Summers throughout his professional career. Prior to his time at Grosvenor, Summers was called to serve as Chief of Staff to the Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and as the appointed Trustee for the $9 billion Cook County Pension Fund. In that capacity, Summers led county-wide reforms to provide performance management in every department. In his role as Chief of Staff for President Preckwinkle, Summers also steered the closure of a $487 million budget deficit while keeping the administration’s promise to rollback the county sales tax, saving taxpayers more than $400 million a year. Additionally, Summers aided in reforming the county’s procurement rules and helped pave the way for a more sustainable health and hospital system. In 2008, Summers answered the call to serve as Chief of Staff for Chicago 2016, the city’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The historic plan called for development in struggling neighborhoods and sealed Summers' passion to help Chicago showcase all it has to offer. Born in Bronzeville, Summers saw firsthand what it meant to invest in Chicago's communities from his grandfather, Sam Patch, who served as a senior advisor to Mayor Harold Washington. Summers is a lifelong Chicago resident and a graduate of Whitney Young High School. He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Management Distinction High Honors in Finance and International Business, with a minor in East Asian Studies, from Washington University in St. Louis. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He currently resides on Chicago's South Side with his wife, Helen.