Faith Leach was appointed by Mayor Brandon Scott to serve as the City’s second and first woman Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). On March 13, 2023, the Baltimore City Council unanimously confirmed the appointment. In her role, Leach manages the day-to-day government operations across the entire city enterprise, ensuring the effective, efficient, and equitable delivery of city services.

Prior to this appointment, CAO Leach served as the Deputy Mayor of Equity, Health, and Human Services for the City of Baltimore, where she provided strategic direction to a portfolio of agencies at the forefront of quality-of-life issues, including Recreation and Parks, Library Services, Homeless Services, Immigrant Affairs, and the City’s COVID-19 public health response.

Before her tenure with the City of Baltimore, Leach served as Chief of Staff at the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Foundation; a global leader dedicated to driving inclusive economic growth in communities worldwide. In this capacity, she oversaw the Foundation’s commitment to invest $2B over five years to strengthen workforce systems, revitalize neighborhoods, grow small businesses, and improve the financial health of vulnerable communities across the globe.

She has spent nearly two decades addressing the key drivers of economic inequality fueling the racial wealth divide.

Before joining JPMorgan Chase & Co., Leach served as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity under DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, standing up a first-of-its-kind government agency focused on revitalizing overlooked and underserved neighborhoods. In this capacity, she provided strategic oversight and direction to a cluster of government agencies focused on workforce training and employment, small business growth and development, and equitable, community-centered economic development.

While in the DC Mayor’s Office, she also led efforts to combat an uptick in community violence and developed a multi-agency approach to violence prevention.

She has held several posts in local governments throughout her career, ranging from Mecklenburg County’s Office of Management and Budget, the City of Durham Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and the North Carolina General Assembly.

Determined to address inequity, Faith leverages her experience and personal passion for advocating for formerly incarcerated women and children with incarcerated parents; serves on the boards of the Meyer Foundation and Ladies of Hope Ministries; is a member of the United Justice Coalition; and is an Ambassador with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

In 2019, Faith received a 40 for 40 award from the NC State Black Alumni Society.