Christine Amer Mayer is president of GAR Foundation. She guides the foundation’s strategic direction and annual grantmaking which focuses heavily on education and economic development.
An Akron native, Christine practiced commercial litigation and business/nonprofit law for eight years with Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs in its Columbus, Cleveland, and Akron offices. She joined GAR Foundation in late 2001 as a part-time program officer. She was named president in 2012.
In 2021, Mayer was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine to serve as a trustee for The University of Akron. She is now vice chair of the University of Akron board of trustees. She serves as trustee and Program Committee chair for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. She serves on the boards of the Greater Akron Chamber, the Fund for Our Economic Future, and ConxusNEO. Previously Christine chaired the United Way of Summit & Medina and served on the founding board of ArtsNow.
Christine was named a Crain’s Cleveland Business Woman of Note and has regularly appeared on the Inside Business Power 100. She received the Project GRAD Community Service Award, was named a finalist for the Athena Award, and received the Women’s History Project of the Akron Area’s Woman of the Year. She is a member of Leadership Akron Class XXIV.
Christine received a Bachelor’s degree in English from Duke University and a law degree from The Ohio State University.
The greatest blessing of her life is her family. When she is not spending time with her beloved children Julia, Elizabeth, and Jimmy, she can be found bird-watching, hiking, listening to podcasts, or digging away in her reasonably productive vegetable garden. Believe it or not: Christine is a lifelong bookworm who is determined to write a novel before all is said and done.