Private Wealth Advisor, Goldman Sachs - San Francisco
David P. Willard is a private wealth advisor at Goldman Sachs in San Francisco, specializing in strategic wealth planning, asset allocation and portfolio implementation for families and private foundations.
David’s international career has spanned investment banking, corporate law, private equity and entrepreneurship. David has advised Fortune 500® businesses, investment firms and corporations spanning all major industries and geographies. David began his career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in London, where he advised institutional clients in Europe on international M&A and capital markets transactions. He later was a corporate attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York and spent several years as a principal investor at Pantera Capital Management, Sage Capital and Monolith Brands Group. Prior to rejoining Goldman Sachs in 2024, David was the Founder & Managing Partner of 52 Capital Partners, a boutique investment banking firm in Silicon Valley.
David is a member of the Advisory Board of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center. He is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee and the National Committee on United States-China Relations. David serves on the Advisory Council of the Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China at Princeton University. He is a trustee of the Episcopal Day School of St. Matthew in San Mateo, California. A native Missourian, David serves on the Endowment Investment Committee of St. Louis University High School. David volunteers on behalf of Harlem Lacrosse, a non-profit organization that mentors at-risk youth through education and athletics. He is an Adjunct Lecturer in Finance at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. Prior to his career in finance and law, David held positions at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation in Cambridge and the Delegation of the European Union to China in Beijing. David guest-lectures regularly on international business topics at American universities and industry conferences.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton University, a juris doctorate from New York University School of Law, and a certificate in data science from Stanford University. At Princeton, David was an Academic All-Ivy midfielder on the nationally-ranked Princeton Men's Varsity Lacrosse Team and competed in two NCAA Division I Final Four Championships. Proficient in Mandarin, David formerly served as a Princeton-in-Asia Fellow and studied at Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University. David and his family reside in San Mateo, California.