Columbus CEO’s CEO of the Year 2023: Corrine Burger Removes Roadblocks to Success at Chase
As JPMorgan Chase’s market leader since 2015, Burger has become an influential voice within the bank and the Central Ohio community.
2023 CEO of the Year – Large For-Profit Winner
When Corrine Burger got her first accounting job in the 1980s, she wasn’t troubled by a requirement to wear skirts or dresses to work. “I was a female in a man’s world, so I just didn’t think about it or let it get in my way,” she says.
Today, Burger is the managing director and Columbus market leader for JPMorgan Chase & Co.—one of a growing number of women who have attained top leadership or board roles in financial services. According to a June report from Deloitte, women hold 18 percent of the industry’s C-suite positions globally—a figure that’s projected at nearly 22 percent by 2031.
Burger leads a portion of the bank’s risk management efforts, where she oversees 3,500 employees, and as market leader she represents 18,000 employees and more than $750 billion in assets under management for the region.
Burger’s business education began in the honors accounting program at Ohio State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration. The Canton native spent six years at Deloitte in Phoenix as an audit manager and certified public accountant before moving back to Ohio in 1991 to work at Bank One.
Bank One, which had $29 billion in assets at the time, merged with JPMorgan Chase, whose assets topped $3 trillion. As the company grew, so did Burger’s responsibilities. “They’ve encouraged me to try different things,” says Burger, 60. “If you’re willing to take measured risks, it’s a great place. Over the years I have taken jobs here that I would have never put on my list as the next job I wanted, but I realized the worst thing that could happen would be to go back to what I was doing before.”
“Learning and curiosity has been the key for me,” Burger says. “The company is so big and vast, you can never stop learning. My leadership and management ability have grown with the company.”
As she moved through varied positions and departments, Burger learned how the pieces of JPMorgan Chase worked and how they fit together, and met many of the company’s employees. “In each experience, I’ve been able to draw on my experience from the last one and to ask questions about why we do things a certain way,” she says. “All those things helped prepare me for where I am today.”
Her career has included stints as controller for the retail division, controller for asset management and working as a member of the corporate accounting team for multiple mergers and acquisitions, including Washington Mutual Bank after it was seized by federal regulators during the Great Recession following a run on the bank.
More recently, Burger oversaw the renovation of JPMorgan Chase’s regional headquarters on Polaris Parkway, which is also the world’s largest Chase facility. The office features the second-largest solar power installation at a U.S. corporation.
Burger says her leadership style is to help people to do their jobs better, not to micromanage what they’re doing. “One of my big jobs is to help our teams remove roadblocks, so when I see things stalling, I tend to get personally involved,” she says. “Sometimes that means changing out the process or the people and getting the right people in the room and helping leaders make the right calls. In the long run, it’s about getting the right resourcing. I’m not afraid to make the hard call.”
Kirt Walker, CEO of Nationwide, has seen that leadership as he’s worked with Burger on the Columbus Partnership and the boards of Columbus State Community College and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “She has always added value through her intellect and insight, as well as her unique ability to apply her broad-based experience to local issues,” says Walker, noting that Burger is well-recognized as a community leader.
Throughout her career, Burger also raised a family of four children to adulthood with her husband, Joe. While she regards them as her proudest achievement, she also feels pride related to her numerous career advances and accomplishments.
“There have been ups and downs, and I had to really prove that I could do the job before I got the job,” she says. “So, I was certainly ready for each job when I went into it. I’ve not been in a job yet where I felt I couldn’t succeed.”
About Corrine Burger
Managing director, Columbus market leader, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
In role since: 2015
Age: 60
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Ohio State University
Community involvement: Board member for One Columbus, Nationwide Children’s Hospital governing board, the Columbus Partnership and Columbus State Community College Board of Trustees. She also co-chairs the capital campaign for Mount Carmel Health System’s $250 million Dublin hospital project.
Kathy Lynn Gray is a freelance writer.
This story is from the CEO of the Year package in the Winter 2024 issue of Columbus CEO.
Editor’s note: The online version of this story was updated to specify that Burger leads a portion, not all, of the bank’s risk management efforts.