"We are extremely pleased to have someone of Christopher (“Chris”) Burnham’s standing join our newly established Advisory Board ahead of our first external capital raising and upcoming platform launch here in Australia," said David Ruddiman, Managing Director & CEO of LendEx. "Chris has an exceptional corporate and public service track record, with decades of leadership skill in corporate finance and government policy, all of which offers an ambitious FinTech start-up like LendEx a truly global perspective on how we intend going about establishing and expanding our business”.

Chris is the former Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM), and global co-head and co-founder of Deutsche Bank’s private equity investment group in New York.

Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Burnham served as Under Secretary General of the United Nations under Kofi Annan, where Mr. Burnham was the highest ranking American in the UN Secretariat. He previously served in the United States Department of State as Under Secretary of State for Management (acting), and Assistant Secretary of State and Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. State Department under General Colin Powell.

Prior to Chris’s role with the U.S. Department of State, Chris was Vice Chairman of funds company, PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm with more than $1.68 trillion dollars in assets under management - where he served as President and CEO of its equity management subsidiary, Columbus Circle Investors.

Earlier in his career Chris was elected to three terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives, and was elected State Treasurer of Connecticut in 1994. Chris holds an MPA from Harvard University and a BA from Washington & Lee University.