David P. Willard is an American investment banker and an acclaimed expert on China. David is the Founder of 52 Capital Partners, LLC, a boutique investment banking firm in Silicon Valley. He has engaged with China’s economy and markets for three decades.
David’s expertise on China has been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, The Financial Times, the South China Morning Post, Business Insider, Business Today, Policy Punchline, Princeton Alumni Weekly, and by universities, industry conferences, podcasts, and think tanks. He regularly advises American executives, investors, and entrepreneurs on China business strategy and risk management.
A veteran M&A practitioner, David previously was an advisor at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in London and San Francisco and an international M&A attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York. An active angel investor, David is a strategic advisor and partner of the Princeton Venture Partnership (PVP), a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in Princeton faculty spinouts.
David serves on the advisory boards of the Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China at Princeton University and the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana. He is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
David received his bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton University and his juris doctorate from New York University School of Law. At Princeton, David was an Academic All-Ivy midfielder on the Princeton Men’s Lacrosse Team and competed in two NCAA Division I Final Four Championships. Fluent in Mandarin, David 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.
