Steven Bosacker

Managing Director, GMF Cities

Washington, DC Office

My Areas of Expertise:

Steven Bosacker is managing director, GMF Cities program, which supports local-level policymakers and practitioners in North America and Europe by facilitating the transatlantic exchange of knowledge for building inclusive, sustainable, and globally engaged cities.

Before joining GMF, Steven was the principal for public sector and partnerships at Living Cities, where he focused on finding and furthering promising practices in large city governments to improve life for low-income residents. The public-sector innovation portfolio included projects such as City Accelerator, Civic Tech and Data Collaborative, and Racial Equity Here, an initiative devoted to implementing racial equity in city government operations. 

Bosacker also served as the city coordinator for Minneapolis, where he championed accountability and transparency in municipal services. He was instrumental in advancing public-private cooperation, including the development of the Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District, and he oversaw the implementation of Minneapolis’ 311 service. He created Results Minneapolis, a comprehensive management system that drove and tracked progress on long-term municipal goals.

Bosacker began his public service career as a legislative assistant on education and labor issues in the office of Congressman Tim Penny. He rose to the position of chief of staff.

After leaving Capitol Hill, he spent four years as executive director and corporate secretary for the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents. He supported the board in all matters pertaining to the effective governance of the University of Minnesota, including leading a presidential transition for the institution in 1998.

He left the University of Minnesota to lead Governor Jesse Ventura’s transition team and ultimately served as the governor’s chief of staff. He authored and managed The Big Plan, a comprehensive strategic agenda for Minnesota.

Bosacker subsequently moved to Hamburg, Germany, where, as a private consultant, he facilitated and incubated international business connections between Europe’s Baltic Sea region and the US Midwest.

Bosacker went on a one-year, worldwide personal journey in 2012-2013 that took him to 23 countries and included business visits to the offices of the Indian prime minister and the governor of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein to discuss government accountability systems.