The Department of Economics extends hearty congratulations to alumnus J. David Griswold (BA '79) upon his selection as the 2016 Kathy Gehrt Memorial Economics Volunteer Service awardee. David has been an integral member of the department's alumni outreach efforts for many years, most notably Chairing the Economics Visiting Committee from 2010-2015.
David became actively involved with the department in 1998 when he was recruited to join the Visiting Committee, a group of supporters who volunteer their time to contribute to the achievement of academic excellence among the students and faculty in the department. As Chair of this committee, David endeavored to ensure the future financial health of the department by assembling a committed group of alumni and friends at all stages of their careers who recognize the value of an economics education and who will, in turn, foster such relationships with future UW Economics alumni.
David is a frequent lecturer for ECON 423: Topics in Financial Economics, focusing on the economics of securities market regulation. He has also been an undergraduate mentor for the Undergraduate Mentorship Program since the program's pilot year in 2011, and is a founding member of the Economics alumni outreach committee.
As General Counsel and CCO of Pacific Current Group, David serves as the internal legal advisor on all major business dealings and transactions, and also oversees compliance and risk management for the firm. Prior to joining Pacific Current Group, David was General Counsel and CCO at Global Index Group, a start-up developing financial indexes for use in ETF’s and similar products. Prior to Global Index Group, David spent 19+ years at Russell Investments as the firm’s Associate General Counsel and Director of Global Regulatory policy. During his time at Russell, David represented a number of the firm’s business lines, including aspects of the firm’s 1940 Act mutual fund products, brokerage firms and Asia-Pacific offices.
Following his graduation from UW Economics in 1979, David went on to earn his JD at the University of Chicago. Dave lives in West Seattle with his wife, Brenda, and has three children.
Established in 2014, the Kathy Gehrt Memorial Economics Volunteer Service Award was named for alumna Kathy Gehrt (BA ’75, MA ’77), who passed away in April 2014 from complications related to a brain tumor and was the posthumous awardee of the inaugural 2014 award. The award seeks to recognize the efforts of a long-term department volunteer who has made a significant difference in the department through his or her involvement. Read about past awardees here.