Sarah Cunningham (she/her)
Director, CGFM
Ms. Sarah Cunningham is a Director at Summit. She brings a deep and respected reputation in government financial management, enterprise risk management, federal credit budgeting and execution, and policy analysis. Her two-decade-long career started with the private sector as a senior risk analyst evaluating credit risk and profitability for multimillion-dollar portfolios.
She later joined the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where she was the examiner overseeing telecommunications, including spectrum, broadband, and the Universal Service Fund. She then transitioned to the Credit Crew, ultimately serving as a senior leader responsible for a $5 trillion federal loan and guarantee portfolio for most of her 11-year tenure at OMB.
After OMB, she served as the Assistant Chief Financial Officer for budget at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she led the use of data analytics to evaluate program budgets and operations, drive budget requests, and implement reforms—including standing up the first true Working Capital Fund and streamlining agency hiring. She was the lead credit expert for the department in budget, audit, and other financial management issues for more than $3 trillion in loan guarantees, including Ginnie Mae securities and Federal Housing Administration single-family mortgages.
Most recently, Ms. Cunningham served as CFO of a major urban county in North Carolina with 1.1 million residents and a $1.9 billion operating budget. There, she led a team of more than 130 staff accountable for the county’s $1.8 billion capital plan, operating budget execution, treasury and debt, financial management, compliance, and procurement.
Ms. Cunningham has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan and is a Certified Government Financial Manager. She serves in leadership roles for the Association of Government Accountants.
