Management

David M. Williams

Founder & CEO

David Williams, an investment banker and venture capitalist since 1990, founded Williams Capital Advisors in 2002.

Professional Experience

Pre-WCA, David was Director, Global Venture Banking & Head of Asia Venture Banking for Merrill Lynch, where he built the firm’s investment banking relationships with top-tier Venture Capital firms & portfolio companies in Silicon Valley and Asia.

Prior to returning to Merrill, David was Partner, Asia-Pacific with Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s ePlanet Ventures fund (2000), where he helped raise the $650 million fund & founded the firm’s Asia presence. He sponsored two investments and co-sponsored another — all of which secured subsequent private or public funding at step-ups in valuation (including two IPOs), contributing, in part, to the fund’s overall strong returns.

Before DFJ, David was Vice President, Head of Asia-Pacific Internet Investment Banking with Merrill Lynch, where he founded Asia’s first dedicated Internet/ Technology Investment Banking group in 1999. The group ranked 1st in bringing the leading tech firms in Greater China, India and Korea to their NASDAQ IPOs & subsequent Follow-on and M&A transactions.

David spent the period from 1992 to 1999 with Salomon Brothers as an investment banker in New York and California before co-founding the firm’s Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific Telecom & Media Group in 1997. He began at Salomon Brothers in 1991 as part of a two-person #1 ranked Institutional Investor Equity Research team covering Steel & Aluminum. He started out as an investment banker with Dean Witter Reynolds’ Asset Backed Securities Group in 1990.

Board Representation

David serves and has served on a number of Advisory Boards for firms such as 99Bill.com, NetEase (NTSE:NASDAQ) and Noatta as well as on the Boards of Directors of firms such as iTelco and Techpacific.

Education

Sci 52, Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University (Fall, 2019)

MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business (1996)

BS in Finance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1990)