Strategic Advisory Council Co-Chair, Walnut Creek, CA USA
Faith Community: Interfaith; United Religions Initiative
Biff Barnard brings to URI a distinguished career in institutional advancement, finance and governance. He joined URI in October 2016 as Director of Institutional Advancement after serving on the SAC since 2003. Prior to that he was Managing Partner of Barnard/Montague Capital Advisors; Managing Director of Caltius Mezzanine; Senior Vice President at Allied Capital; and Chairman & CEO of Heller First Capital.
He served as Chairman of the Advisory Council of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth and served on the advisory board of Heritage Bank of Commerce’s San Francisco East Bay region. He holds a B.A. from Stanford University and resides in Walnut Creek, California with his wife Connie.
In his current role as Co‑Chair of the SAC, Biff uses his deep expertise in capital markets, philanthropy and organizational leadership to support URI’s global mission of inter‑faith cooperation.
His deep knowledge of all aspects of URI, background in regional inter‑faith networks (including serving on the Governing Board of the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County CA, a URI Cooperation Circle), and his experience scaling institutional platforms provide valuable strategic insight for strengthening URI’s infrastructure, major‑gift initiatives and network growth.
