My Bio

David Bank is a Vice President of Civic Ventures and founder of Encore.org. He deploys his journalistic and entrepreneurial skills and experience to explore and advance innovative ideas and compelling people who are making a difference with encore careers.

In his pre-encore career, Bank was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering the Internet, Microsoft and the software industry. His book, Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumbled the Future of Microsoft (Free Press) was named one of the “Best Business Books of 2001” by the Harvard Business Review and Amazon.com. He launched the national philanthropy beat at the Journal and pioneered coverage of West Coast philanthropy, giving-while-living, and the new crop of billionaire advocates. Previously, he covered Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News and L.A. City Hall for the Los Angeles Daily News and was a foreign correspondent based in Seoul, South Korea. He has also filed from Tibet, the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, El Salvador, and Mexico. His magazine articles have appeared in Newsweek, Wired, Mother Jones, and Out. Bank was a 1996 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He has an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. in politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.