David P. Willard
Founder & Chief Executive Officer 

David P. Willard is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of 52 Capital Partners, LLC.  52 Capital Partners, LLC is an American boutique strategic advisory firm that provides general strategic and business advice to North American and European companies in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions with a nexus to the Asia-Pacific region.  Mr. Willard is responsible for all major aspects of the Firm’s executive management, strategy, client development and research leadership.

During his career, Mr. Willard has executed and participated in consequential mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and other corporate transactions in the United States, Europe and Asia.  He has successfully advised Fortune 500 businesses, investment firms and multi-national corporations spanning all major industries and geographies.  Mr. Willard’s career expertise in mergers and acquisitions and Asia-Pacific economic matters has been recognized in Bloomberg News, Forbes, the Financial Times, the National Committee on United States-China Relations, Business Today, the Naples Roundtable, Capital Innovators, Policy Punchline, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and eFinancial Careers, among other institutions in the United States and Europe.  He is a member of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, a leading American non-profit organization that supports and promotes greater understanding and awareness of important economic and policy matters between the two countries. 

Fluent in Mandarin and an internationally-recognized expert on Asia-Pacific economics, Mr. Willard holds degrees from Princeton University (A.B., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and New York University (J.D., cum laude).  He also completed the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies at Tsinghua University and the Princeton-in-Beijing Chinese Language Program at Beijing Normal University.  Mr. Willard and his family reside in Northern California.