Mari Gallagher is Principal of Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group and has enjoyed a national reputation for diverse, high impact projects in locations such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, New York, Denver, Detroit, Nashville, Dalton (Georgia), and Barry (Vermont) over 18 years of professional history. Her clients include community and civic organizations, government entities, foundations, and major corporations.

Mari was the Managing Director of the Emerging Markets Initiative for Social Compact, a research firm based in Washington DC (where she developed her unique data development and market sizing methods), was the Executive Director of a community development corporation (where she led the co-development a $75 million shopping center anchored by a full-service grocery store linked to Chicago’s second busiest transportation hub), and was the President of a minority-owned technology company (where she negotiated million dollar deals with companies such as Apple). Most recently, before starting her own firm, Mari headed a nonprofit research division.

As a practitioner, Mari developed transit-oriented developments, large and small commercial centers, and award winning affordable and energy efficient rental housing.

As a researcher, Mari has led and managed a variety of complex projects focused on diverse content areas from financial services to sprawl and community planning. Specialties include “below the radar” data, indexes, neighborhood report cards, and market analyses for undervalued and high-transition markets. She was one of the first researchers to identify and study the ITIN mortgage market.

Mari has done extensive research on housing, commercial revitalization strategies, immigration, Mexican undocumented patterns, asset building, CDFI and for-profit banking strategies, workforce development, and other content areas.

Aside from being a number cruncher, Mari and her team also conduct qualitative studies using focus groups, surveys, and cutting-edge facilitation techniques resulting in dynamic public forums and town hall meetings. Mari has been a guest speaker for various high-level forums across the country, including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. She continues to be a well-received facilitator and presenter on many diverse topics.

Mari’s exceptional communication skills have resulted in substantial media coverage of her projects over the years to the extent that we have taken the press section off our website - we can’t keep up! Recent food desert work has been covered regularly in media venues such as CNN, National Public Radio, Salon.com, the Economist, the Chicago Tribune, and many others. Her work on the undocumented Mexican mortgage market has also been featured in dozens of local and national newspapers. One initiative years ago to develop a community garden received 32 media placements including House Beautiful.

With her community planning, real estate development, private sector, and research experience, Mari understands the many interwoven dynamics of the built environment as well as community health, wellness, and niche fields, such as food insecurity. Her work has been cited in the American Journal of Health, and she has published many articles in a number of prominent locations, including Federal Reserve Bank journals. She was a co-founder and co-chairman of an American Heart Association pilot project that became a division, a founder and president of a soccer association that served Hispanic youth, a founder and volunteer for a homeless support network and food pantry, and active in other civic endeavors.

Mari is working collaboratively with the Urban Institute’s National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, an effort to improve and democratize neighborhood level data and data systems.

Mari lived and studied in Latin America, speaks Spanish, and has a Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Public Policy from the University of Illinois.

Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group, a wholly-owned female business enterprise, is a neutral third party research firm that does not engage in advocacy work, political campaigns, or lobbying.