Jeff Epstein (LC 2016, CEF 2007)
Chief of Integrated Development, City of Cleveland
Jeff Epstein is the Chief of Integrated Development for the City of Cleveland as a part of Mayor Justin Bibb’s Cabinet. In his role, he supports equitable community and economic development in the City, overseeing the departments of planning, economic development, community development, and building and housing. Jeff works to advance Mayoral development priorities such as breaking down silos between departments, modernizing City Hall, and advancing growth and equity throughout the City of Cleveland.
Prior to joining the City, Jeff served as Executive Director of MidTown Cleveland, a 501(c)(3) economic and community development organization that serves the area between downtown Cleveland and University Circle, and director of the
Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor, an umbrella effort to attract innovative health-tech and high-tech businesses to the area. In his roles with MidTown and the Health-Tech Corridor, he was responsible for marketing, strengthening and redeveloping the neighborhood, attracting and assisting business growth, and connecting the business and residential community.
Under Jeff’s seven plus years of leadership at MTC and the Health-Tech Corridor, the neighborhood saw $230 million of transformative real estate development, including the new Dave’s Markets grocery store, The Cleveland Foundation headquarters, Hilton Tru hotel, and market rate and affordable housing projects. During this time, Jeff integrated racial equity principles through all aspects of the organization and refocused MTC’s strategy to comprehensive and equitable neighborhood development. MTC also grew from four full-time employees to fourteen, more than tripled the organizational budget, and substantially increased grant funding and corporate giving.
Jeff joined MidTown and the Health-Tech Corridor from The Coral Company, where he served as Vice President of Development, overseeing residential, commercial, and mixed-use development projects, capital markets transactions, and consulting projects. Prior to joining Coral, Jeff participated in the Cleveland Executive Fellowship, a one-year civic leadership development program.
Jeff holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and an undergraduate degree in Public Policy Studies from Duke University. Following law school, he clerked for the Hon. Solomon Oliver Jr. on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
Jeff serves as past president of the board at Congregation Shaarey Tikvah. He is a 2016 graduate of Leadership Cleveland.