Christopher Meister
Chris Meister has served as Executive Director of the Illinois Finance Authority (“IFA”), a self-funded State agency that does not rely on any appropriation of taxpayer or ratepayer funds to support its operations. Since 2009, through a commercial and competitive approach, the IFA team under Meister’s leadership has attracted more than $45 billion in private capital to Illinois as a conduit issuer of bonds to support projects across the State. In 2021, Governor Pritzker named IFA as the Climate Bank of the State pursuant to the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. Meister oversees a diverse portfolio of finance products, including tax-exempt conduit bonds across nonprofit, industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors as well as direct and participation lending for economic development and climate projects. With a commercial perspective, IFA works to align its finance products and programs to attract private capital to create jobs, fight climate change, and reduce the cost of debt on the people of Illinois. He served as a member of the Environmental Financial Advisory Board (“EFAB”) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency between 2016 and 2022. In 2012, Meister was selected as a member of the inaugural class of Edgar Fellows through the University of Illinois System.
Prior to joining IFA, Meister was Director of Legislative Affairs and Associate General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (2003-2007). Before his public service with the State of Illinois, Meister worked in private law practice. Meister was a law clerk for Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Ann McMorrow, is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law and DePaul University’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.