David Richards, a private investor since 1991, is based in Santa Monica, California. In prior years he was a professional investment manager of mutual funds, pension funds, and endowments. From 1985 to 1991 he was a Managing Director and Vice Chairman of PRIMECAP Management in Pasadena, California. From 1973 to 1985 he managed part of several mutual funds for American Funds, the Capital Group, Los Angeles, where he was Senior Vice President of Capital Research and Management and President of Fundamental Investors Fund.
He is a graduate of Harvard College, Wadham College of Oxford, and the Harvard Business School. He serves on Harvard’s Committee on University Resources, the Dean’s Council of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Dean’s Council of the Kennedy School of Government, and the International Council for the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He is a Foundation Fellow of Wadham College, and at the RAND Corporation serves on the board of advisors of RAND Health and the Center for Middle East Public Policy. He initiated and funded the RAND study: Building a Successful Palestinian State, published in 2005. He is also a board member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.