GET TO KNOW DAVE
During Dave’s leadership, Schwab refocused its business model entirely on the internet, a radically transformative move that drove the company’s explosive growth. Schwab also led a reinvention of the no-load mutual fund industry with the introduction of the no-fee “mutual fund supermarket” concept and introduced the RIA servicing business; both innovations are now cornerstones of the discount brokerage industry.
This RIA experience was invaluable when Dave became a founding investor in HighTower Advisors, helping it grow from an idea to a thriving business with over $50 billion in assets. He served on HighTower’s board and as the chair for close to a decade, stepping down as it was sold in 2018.
He is currently on the board of directors of GSV Capital, a publicly traded investment fund that gives growth equity investors access to private companies with huge potential. He advises the CEOs of several early stage companies and has delivered keynote speeches and taught change leadership to hundreds of executives from around the world. A senior fellow and adjunct faculty member at the Wharton School’s Center for Leadership and Change Management, Dave received Wharton San Francisco’s Outstanding Teaching Award in 2010 and 2012.
Dave is the coauthor with Terry Pearce of Clicks and Mortar: Passion-Driven Growth in an Internet-Driven World. In his second book, Stacking the Deck: How to Lead Breakthrough Change Against Any Odds, Dave synthesized his and other leaders’ experiences to help executives increase the likelihood of success. His newly released third book, Driving Disruption: An Operator’s Manual, sets forth the process Dave has developed to help others plan and execute disruptive change.
Dave served on the board of directors of Intel Corporation from 1998 to 2018; he was a member of the executive committee, chair of the compensation committee, and chair of the retirement plan investment committee. Dave was formerly a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the San Francisco Committee on Jobs.
Dave has received accolades and recognition from numerous organizations and publications. He has been named one of the “Top 15 CEOs” by Worth; “CEO of the Year” by InformationWeek; “Executive of the Year” by the San Francisco Business Times; and “CEO of the Year” by Morningstar. He was named by SmartMoney as one of the three most influential executives in the world of investing and by Institutional Investor as the number one most influential executive in the world of online finance.
In 1999 he was appointed by Congress and then-President Clinton to serve as one of 19 Commissioners on the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, which was tasked with producing recommendations on electronic commerce and tax policy, arguably one of the most important policy initiatives of the Information Age.
Dave graduated with a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and earned his MBA with honors from Wharton.