David Blaszkiewicz

Board Member, Detroit RiverFront Conservancy

President, Invest Detroit
President & CEO, Downtown Detroit Partnership

David Blaszkiewicz serves a dual role as president of Invest Detroit, and president and CEO of Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP). He leads the organizations' economic and revitalization efforts and collaborates with the public, private and philanthropic sectors to develop partnerships and strategic plans to support community initiatives and job creation. Mr. Blaszkiewicz has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the Detroit business community.

The missions of Invest Detroit and DDP coincide on many levels and provide an overlapping framework for action for both organizations. Mr. Blaszkiewicz guides the efforts to coordinate a number of audiences in support of increasing residential, commercial, retail and entertainment activity in the Downtown and an improved quality of life for the communities served.

As President of Invest Detroit, Mr. Blaszkiewicz manages the activities of its related entities representing $110 million in funds and tax credits. Invest Detroit serves as a platform for managed funds intended to meet a broad range of financing needs to support business expansion and real estate development, the creation and retention of jobs, and the revitalization of distressed areas in Detroit. To date, Invest Detroit's loans and investments of $110.3 million have leveraged over $653.2 million in total financing.

As President and CEO of DDP, Mr. Blaszkiewicz works with community leaders and area stakeholders to develop programs to strengthen downtown Detroit's employment, entertainment and residential assets. The DDP is a private/public partnership formed to engage business, government, and civic leaders to advance Detroit as the vibrant, diverse, and economically healthy urban core of Southeast Michigan. Mr. Blaszkiewicz oversees the administration of DDP's programs and downtown marketing initiatives as well as its project support for the development of M-1 RAIL, a 3.4-mile light rail service to run from Detroit's Downtown to its New Center area.

Prior to his current positions, Mr. Blaszkiewicz served as President of the Detroit Investment Fund, which is now a part of Invest Detroit. He also served as Director of Finance, and Secretary/Treasurer of Detroit Renaissance (now known as Business Leaders for Michigan), a private, non-profit leadership organization composed exclusively of the chief executive officers of the region's most significant employers and universities. He joined the organization in 1990, during which time Detroit Renaissance brought the business community's leadership and resources together to encourage and facilitate the physical and economic revitalization of Detroit. In 1994, he assisted with the creation of the Detroit Investment Fund and became its President in 2001.

In 2010, Mr. Blaszkiewicz was appointed by the Mayor of Detroit to serve as a Board member for the Downtown Development Authority. He also serves as a Board member for the Michigan Magnet Fund, New Detroit, Wayne State Research and Technology Park, Detroit Community Loan Fund, First Step Fund Management Committee, and the Lower Woodward Housing Fund Management and Loan Committees.

Mr. Blaszkiewicz is an alumnus of both Michigan State University, where he earned his Masters of Business Administration and Wayne State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in business.