David Willard
Founder, 52 Capital Partners, LLC
David P. Willard serves on the Advisory Board of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana.
David is the founder of 52 Capital Partners, LLC, a boutique investment banking firm based in Silicon Valley. He also is an adjunct lecturer in finance at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. David has more than three decades of experience working on China-related business and investment matters and is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
David’s perspectives on China’s economy and markets have been featured in a range of international media outlets and academic and industry forums. He regularly advises American executives, investors, and entrepreneurs on China business strategy and risk management.
Previously, he was an advisor at Goldman Sachs in London and San Francisco and an international M&A attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York. David also is an active angel investor and serves as a strategic advisor and partner of the Princeton Venture Partnership (PVP), a seed-stage venture capital firm supporting Princeton faculty spinouts.
David received his bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton University and his J.D. from New York University School of Law. While at Princeton, he was an Academic All-Ivy midfielder on the men’s lacrosse team and competed in two NCAA Division I Final Four championships. Fluent in Mandarin, he studied at Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University and previously served as a Princeton-in-Asia Fellow in China.
David resides in San Mateo, California with his wife and two children.