Frances Kern Mennone
OZ Thought Leader | Public-Private Partnership Strategist
Frances Kern Mennone leads policy and designation coverage on Home Field Advantage. She tracks the OZ 2.0 designation process nationally — state-by-state nomination timelines, regulatory developments, practitioner implications — and writes a weekly designation update covering the run-up to the September 2026 nomination window. An OZ practitioner, she has structured deals, assembled capital stacks, and watched OZ 1.0 work — and not work — on the ground.
Frances Kern Mennone advises private sector clients on public-private partnerships that are large-scale and uniquely complex. She architects the financial and strategic roadmap for transformational projects, from nascent concept through capital stack to completion, adding measurable value to the communities and organizations she serves.
Frances is adept at connecting stakeholders, negotiating competing interests, and identifying funding resources that others miss. She navigates federal and state funding mechanisms including competitive grants, appropriations, and programmatic funding. Her recent work includes advocating for federal designation of the Ohio River through the pending Ohio River Restoration Act.
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Her work unlocking stalled mall sites has led to the nickname "Dead Mall Slayer", as she secured state demolition funding for the former Forest Fair and Westland malls through strategic structuring that maximized public investment and minimized client out-of-pocket costs. Currently, Frances is leading strategic advisor for Opportunity Zones (OZ) capital. She is a well-known OZ thought leader, author and speaker.
Frances served as Director of Strategic Partnerships at Cross Street Partners where she managed financing for the Dayton Arcade, a project with over twenty-six sources of funding. For her tenacity and finesse in closing this immensely complicated deal, she was dubbed "The Muscle" by the Dayton Business Courier. She also led the predevelopment of the massive former Champion Paper headquarters in Hamilton, Ohio, now transformed into the second-largest indoor sports complex in the United States.
In her early professional life, Frances was an avid watersports athlete and advocate. She created and led what became one of the largest and most successful youth rowing organizations in the country, the Chicago Rowing Foundation. That work led to the creation of two new Chicago facilities, one of which was named in her honor as a tribute to her dogged determination. Her final role in the sport was serving as Secretary on the board of directors for the United States Rowing Association, the Olympic sport's national governing body.
Frances holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Xavier University and a Commercial Real Estate Certificate from Cornell University. She speaks frequently on the national stage. As a mother of two boys she fondly likes to say they are her "very best projects". In her spare time, you might find her in the greenhouse, sweating at yoga, paddling on the river or competing in a friendly regatta on Lake Michigan.
