David H. Crawford serves as executive director at Hilco Global in the firm’s expanding Higher Education and Faith-Based Organization (HE/FBO) advisory practice, dedicated to helping institutions and organizations strengthen financial sustainability, optimize assets, and align operations with long-term mission goals.
With more than four decades of leadership experience across higher education, real estate, corporate, and legal sectors, David is recognized for his ability to navigate complex organizational challenges and deliver transformative outcomes.
Before joining Hilco Global, David served as the 11th President of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, where he led the 195-year-old institution through a period of significant transformation—restructuring finances, negotiating the sale of its campus to the University of Chicago, and overseeing its relocation to a new shared facility.
Earlier in his career, David served as Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Allied Riser Communications Corporation, an internet and data services company with the late Sam Zell. He also held senior leadership roles at Equity Office Properties Trust, helping guide the company’s growth into the largest publicly traded owner of commercial office buildings in North America, and practiced law in the Bankruptcy and Restructuring Group at Kirkland & Ellis.
David holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar and currently serves as a director of the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago and on the executive committee of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago.