Todd Rufo

Economic Development Advisor
Bloomberg Associates
New York, NY


Todd is a senior member of the Economic Development Team at Bloomberg Associates, an international consulting service founded by Michael R. Bloomberg as a philanthropic venture. Drawing on 15+ years of economic development experience, Todd helps cities build a stronger economy that delivers for all residents. Todd advises and supports client cities in sector based business attraction and retention, small business and neighborhood development, international business initiatives, workforce development, and economic policy.

Todd is passionate about helping cities grow and retain good jobs by strengthening the core fundamentals of a city’s economy. With a track record of aligning workforce and economic development programming, he is committed to driving growth and ensuring strong equity outcomes. Todd is focused on helping clients prepare for and leverage the disruptive forces of tech innovation in areas such as the future of work, emerging sector development and deploying tech enabled economic development services.

Prior to joining Bloomberg Associates, Todd was the Director of the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development for six years, where he led a team of 120 staff and a budget of $63 million. He oversaw policies and programs which supported one of the strongest periods of economic growth in the city’s history, adding more than 143,000 jobs since 2011 and an unemployment rate of 2.4% in 2018. Todd expanded the department with a nearly 2x budget increase, driven by new annual funding for a $3 million nonprofit real estate acquisition fund, $2.5 million in small business loans, $1.7 million for tech training programs and $900,000 for a new digital services team.

Under Todd’s leadership San Francisco launched cluster initiatives in tech, life sciences, and manufacturing and new international business development programs in China, Latin America and Asia. He oversaw the launch of a citywide neighborhood development initiative, a range of new small business services and the development of the award-winning San Francisco Business Portal. Todd led major economic policy initiatives including an updated Economic Strategy and a first in the nation municipal Economic Resiliency Plan.

Previously Todd worked in economic development for the City of New York and San Jose. Todd received a Master in Urban Planning from New York University and a BA from the University of California, Davis.