- I am in my encore career
- I support the encore idea
My Groups
- Civic Ventures
- Encore Employers
- Encore Agenda Forum
- Encore California
- Encore Colleges
- Encore for Education
- Encore Journalists
- Encore Nation
- Encores for Education & Youth
- Green Encores
- Life Planning Network
- Promoting Encore Careers in the Media
- Purpose Prize Innovation Network
- Technology for non-Techies
- The Encore Careers Summit
- The Encore Equation
My Interests
My Issues
Journalist ; Social Accelerator
My Encore Story
My primary career was as a journalist, most recently as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. In my last few years at the Journal, I covered new trends in philanthropy and got enamored of big system-change ideas and social entrepreneurship in areas such as global health, economic development and the environment. After awhile, I got itchy to try to make change myself. I got hooked by Civic Ventures’ vision of turning the inevitable aging of America (and the world) from a crisis into an opportunity, and by the possibility of unleashing a tremendous store of human capital on some of society’s most pressing challenges. I was delighted when Marc Freedman invited me to join up and embark on my encore career.
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.
