David Crawford
Contact information
Field of Study:President
Email: dcrawford@mccormick.edu
Department:Office of the President
Extension:6301
Office:202
David Crawford is the eleventh president of McCormick Theological Seminary. A graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, David is a trusted leader, respected lawyer, colleague, and team-builder. Crawford is an ordained ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and has served on the boards of McCormick, Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, Lifelink Housing Corporation, and has previously served as a Practitioner-in-Residence at the University of Iowa Law School. Crawford and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Glencoe with their two daughters Grace and Kate.
Before joining McCormick’s board of trustees, Crawford was Principal and Co-Founder of Technology Advisors Group, a consulting firm specializing in early-stage technology and environmentally-sustainable businesses, the CEO of Allied Riser Communications Corporation, an internet and data communications company he co-founded and grew from a handful of colleagues to more than 900 employees in North America and Europe, and Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Equity Office Properties Trust, where he was part of the senior management team that lead Equity Office to become the largest, publicly-traded owner of commercial office buildings in the North America. Earlier in his career Crawford was an Associate at the international law firm of Kirkland and Ellis and Chicago-based Gardner, Carton & Douglas. Before earning his J.D. from Georgetown, Crawford served as staff director for the Youth Policy Institute of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial in Washington,
Prior to being named McCormick’s eleventh president, Crawford served McCormick as interim president and as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer. Crawford came to that role in 2008 during the height of the financial crisis while serving on McCormick’s board of trustees. During his tenure, he led the effort to secure McCormick’s financial future, working with his predecessors, Presidents Cynthia Campbell and Frank Yamada, four deans, and the McCormick faculty and staff to implement difficult changes early on that have helped secure McCormick’s future as it approaches its third century of service. In addition to his diligent oversight of McCormick’s investments and operational budget for the past ten years, Crawford has had overall responsibility for everything on the operations side from the physical plant to information technology, financial aid, human resources, benefits, legal, and regulatory matters. Over his many years at McCormick, Crawford has thoughtfully challenged the McCormick community to think creatively, and to envision a future beyond just what is or what was. He has helped lead and continues to foster innovations that allow McCormick to expand its academic mission, lower student tuition (and student borrowing), and engage the wider Chicago community in active, meaningful ways.
“We have come a long way together,” Crawford said, “and have much yet to do. What we do at McCormick is more relevant, more vital than ever before. As challenging as the world may seem today, it is a far better and more hopeful place because of the important work we and our graduates do everyday in every community we serve here in Chicago and around the globe. We are blessed.”