Chairman and CEO, Weild & Co., and former NASDAQ Vice Chairman
David is considered the world’s foremost expert in how stock market structure impacts capital formation, job formation, upward mobility and economic growth. He previously headed investment banking and equity capital markets at Prudential Securities (then, a top ten underwriter), and served as President of PrudentialFinancial.com.
Broadly known as “Father of the JOBS Act” (the Act that led to securities crowdfunding, generally solicited private placements, new forms of IPOs in order to broaden access to capital), the studies that Weild co-authored uncovered that it was modern electronic market structure that led to a decline in small IPO activity and equity capital formation broadly which in turn undermines rates of innovation, economic growth, upward mobility and more inclusive capitalism. His work informed the capital markets aspects of the FAST Act and he worked closely on a new form of stock exchange to better support entrepreneurs that was included in The JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018 - that passed the House 406-4 and was supported by the Trump Administration but failed to pass the Senate when President Trump shut down the Government and the legislation was stalled by pushing it into the 2019 Congress.
Weild is a sought-after expert who has spoken at the White House (“My Brother’s Keeper, I Have A Dream Summit” and US Office of Science and Technology Policy), the US Congress, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the European Commission, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the G-20, the Budapest Economic Forum, The National Black Chamber of Commerce, The Rainbow Push Coalition, The Kingonomics Conference for the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington (where he first met Congressman John Lewis), among others.
David is an advisor to OHUB (Opportunity Hub) in Atlanta, whose chairman and founder, Bishop Rodney Sampson, is the author of Kingonomics. Weild works with Mr. Sampson on Diversity Equity Inclusion Solutions or “DEIS” one of which is a corporate certification program that was developed and launched, in partnership with UNC at Chapel Hill, Duke University and Stanford University.
In 2016, sensing a need to support the vast array of human capital that could be harnessed in support of financing the growth economy, Weild & Co. launched services to license, onboard and support professionals in what has been called “LPL Financial of investment banking.” Weild & Co.’s twin objectives are to be the first full-service, variable cost model, major bracket investment bank and the largest driver of job growth and social impact of any securities firm in the world.
David has priced over 500 IPOs and 500 follow-on offerings and pioneered the use of form S-3 shelf registrations to help issuers mitigate market risk. This led to entire new categories of financings for less-than-investment-grade issuers including overnight equity offerings, registered directs, accelerated book builds and equity lines of credit.
David holds an MBA from the Stern School of Business and a BA in Biology from Wesleyan University where he completed graduate work in molecular genetics and was the European Correspondent for GEN. He studied on exchange at The Sorbonne, Ecole des Haute Etudes Commerciales and The Stockholm School of Economics. He is Chairman Emeritus of Tuesday’s Children, the noted 9/11 charity that also provides support to US military families of the fallen, first responders and set up the Resiliency Center of Newtown.
