Chris Romano

Chris is the Chief Operating Officer for the Bush Foundation, a private foundation serving Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and the 23 Native nations in the region. At the Bush Foundation, he has broad responsibility across multiple departments – including finance, communications, operations, HR, learning and evaluation and investments.

Chris joined the Bush Foundation in 2022 after serving as the Executive Director for Seward Redesign, a community development corporation with a focus in real estate and economic development. Prior to that, he was the Chief Operating Officer for the Center for Economic Inclusion. His experience also includes diverse leadership roles at Thrivent Financial and as the Executive Director of the Riverview Economic Development Association. In addition to serving on the board of trustees for the Blandin Foundation, Chris is the Treasurer of the Minnesota Council on Foundations and a director for the Saint Paul Downtown Development Corporation. In his 20s, Chris served in the Peace Corps as a small business consultant in Nicaragua.

Chris has an undergraduate degree in industrial/organizational psychology and an MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and three teenage kids. His family owns property outside of Babbitt in St. Louis County where you will likely find Chris fishing on a local lake in his free time.