JPMorgan veteran returns after Detroit public-sector stint to support $1.5 trillion security push

Marcus von Kapff’s familiarity with Detroit’s formerly complicated process for approving small businesses has proven unexpectedly useful in his latest JPMorgan role.

Von Kapff spent 20 years at the bank before serving as Detroit’s chief operating officer in 2024. He has now returned to JPMorgan’s Security & Resilience Initiative, a $1.5 trillion program designed to strengthen industries considered strategically vital to the United States.

Many of the initiative’s projects require cooperation between government agencies and private companies. Von Kapff says his public-sector experience has put him in an ideal position to facilitate that work. He rejoined the bank this summer as head of advanced manufacturing, leading a group that backs companies developing advanced products such as specialized sensors and industrial machinery.

“I have a much greater appreciation for the responsibilities they carry and how demanding these jobs can be,” von Kapff said regarding government officials.

He had not anticipated returning to JPMorgan, answering the idea with an incredulous, halfway laughing no. Still, he felt drawn to the Security & Resilience Initiative’s mission, noting that “timing is everything.” Discussions with former colleagues, who confirmed that CEO Jamie Dimon supported the effort, ultimately persuaded him to join the roughly 30-person team.

At JPMorgan, Von Kapff previously occupied several management roles, including chief financial officer of the commercial bank. In Detroit, he applied the problem-solving and relationship-building skills he had developed at the firm to revise housing zoning rules, expand public transportation, and obtain government funding for infrastructure projects.

He now meets regularly with internal stakeholders and government officials to secure capital and address challenges facing advanced manufacturing. It marks an unforeseen return to his professional roots: Von Kapff studied mechanical engineering in college and later sold factory automation equipment in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Tackling “tangled problems”

Although Von Kapff is relatively new to the Security & Resilience Initiative, the team has operated for nearly a year. By late September, it had financed more than $200 billion, while the strategic investment group had invested over $4 billion in equity. Its work brings together more stakeholders than is customary in banking and requires balancing the bank’s commercial objectives with the nation’s interests. Von Kapff is examining, for instance, how bankers’ energy infrastructure transactions can also expand American manufacturing capacity.

Above all, he has concentrated on structural challenges such as the “tangled issues facing the workforce.” That focus reflects a projected shortage of 3.8 million workers in advanced manufacturing, according to JPMorgan research. In June, the initiative held a summit in Detroit that addressed employment growth and how Michigan’s industrial companies can expand domestic supply chains.

As Detroit’s COO, Von Kapff developed a deeper understanding of why stable, well-paying employment matters. He now considers that insight in everything he does.

“If I have a long, difficult day and find myself wondering, ‘Why am I doing this again?’ I remember that if it helps create a good job in Michigan or Detroit, the effort is worthwhile,” he said.

He has ample time to consider complicated supply chains while traveling—Von Kapff visited Washington, DC, three times during his first eight weeks in the role.

A perspective shaped by public service

Von Kapff has repeatedly drawn on his Detroit experience while developing public-private partnerships, a central element of the initiative’s work. He says he can offer political context during negotiations that has “made a meaningful difference.”

“I approach each problem from a different perspective,” he said. “I now understand the incentive structures and motivations on the public side that may have been unclear to me before.”

In addition to evaluating transactions from the other side, Von Kapff has helped organize projects and events in Michigan and is actively pursuing public-private partnerships nationwide.

His local experience, however, has limits. Learning how to streamline Detroit’s permitting process for small-business owners offered a conceptual framework for the initiative’s internal permitting task force, but it did not resolve every challenge.

“I know I can accomplish it, but that was only at the city level,” Von Kapff said. “Attempting to do the same thing federally will be difficult, but I am ready for the challenge.”