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David M. Stone

Lecturer, Nonprofit Management; Senior Adviser, Office of the President Emeritus, Columbia University

Currently a Senior Advisor to the Office of Columbia University President Emeritus Lee C. Bollinger, David M. Stone served as Columbia’s Executive Vice President for Communications from 2006 to 2018.

Before coming to Columbia, David’s eclectic career included service in state and federal government, First Amendment law, public affairs television and strategic communications consulting for a variety of media, education, government, and mission-driven organizations. These included the University of Pennsylvania's civic partnership with West Philadelphia, Princeton University's Policy Research Institute for the Region at the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the New York City Department of Education, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Markle Foundation, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, the National Community Development Initiative, the Corporation for National Service, the Peace Corps and the VERA Institute.

David’s campaign and government experience includes serving as deputy chief of staff and communications director for Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey and United States Senator Harris Wofford. He was later a writer of historical documentaries for CBS News Productions’ 20th Century with Mike Wallace, as well as a consulting producer for the Sundance award-winning HBO documentary "Blue Vinyl" and the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Award-winning “Total Denial.”

A graduate of Harvard Law School, David clerked at The New York Times legal department and was an associate at the firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath. Before attending law school, he was a researcher for the MacNeil-Lehrer Report at WNET Thirteen and a national public affairs producer for Tribune Broadcasting in New York.

A native New Yorker, David earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from Princeton University, where he won the C.O. Joline Prize for American History and the Thesis Publication Prize for his work on "Nixon and the Politics of Public Television," which was later published by the Garland American History series. His articles on media and politics have appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Philadelphia Citizen, Columbia Journalism Review, and Tikkun.

Courses:

  • NOPMK5255: Crafting the Language of Nonprofit Leadership

Education

  • J.D., Harvard University
  • B.A., Princeton University