David has been Chief Executive of Social Finance since May 2009. Over this period, he has helped build Social Finance from a concept to a team of over 70 professionals drawn from social, public sector and financial backgrounds. The team partners with government, the social sector and the financial community to develop ways of tackling entrenched social issues that have the potential to scale and be sustainable.

Since May 2010, David has been General Partner for the Peterborough Social Impact Partnership – the initiative to finance a programme to reduce recidivism among short sentenced male offenders leaving Peterborough prison. Investors in the partnership are rewarded if, and only if, the programme delivers a measurable reduction in re-offending. The initiative has brought Social Finance significant national and international recognition.

Prior to joining Social Finance, David spent 25 years with Dresdner Kleinwort where he was most recently Head of UK Investment Banking and a member of the Global Banking Operating Committee, coordinating the bank’s activities in the UK across the full range of investment banking products.

David has a BA in History and Economics from Brasenose College, Oxford. He is a non-executive Director of Start Up Loans, a government funded pilot to extend small loans to young people and help them start their own businesses, and 3i, one of the world’s leading international investors, with over £11bn of assets under management. David was awarded an OBE in June 2013 for his services to finance.