Ciara Burnham, chair of the EDC Board of Trustees, is a seasoned investor, operator, and board director with a track record of over two decades of success building growth businesses. She currently serves on the boards of several financial services companies as well as nonprofit organizations focused on social impact initiatives.
Previously, Ciara was a senior advisor and partner with QED, a leading early stage financial technology venture capital firm. Prior to QED, she was a senior managing director with Evercore, the global investment bank, where she worked broadly across the firm’s businesses. Ciara joined Evercore shortly after its inception and played a significant leadership role in the build-out of the firm’s presence on a global basis. Earlier in her career, Ciara was an equity research analyst with Sanford Bernstein and a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
Ciara has a deep commitment to supporting social impact organizations in both the for-profit and nonprofit spheres. She currently serves on the advisory boards of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise and the Program for Financial Studies at Columbia Business School, as well as the Dean’s Advisory Council of Princeton University. She is a founding investor of How Women Invest, an early stage venture capital firm supporting female founders.
Ciara holds an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.