David A. Hirsch (born October 26, 1960) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

businessman, fatherhood activist,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, endurance cyclist, and author. He is a Senior Vice President with

UBS Financial Services UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1997, Hirsch founded the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative, a non-profit fatherhood

Advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...

. In 2015 he founded the 21st Century Dads Foundation which include programs like the Special Fathers Network, a mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs. He is the author of ''21st Century Dads: A Father’s Journey To Break The Cycle Of Father Absence'' and the host the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad

Podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

with over 225 episodes including guests: Joe Mantegna, Dick Hoyt, and

John Crowley (biotech executive) John Francis Crowley (born April 7, 1967) is an American biotechnology executive and entrepreneur and the chairman and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics. He co-founded Novazyme Pharmaceuticals with William Canfield, which was later acquired by Genzyme ...

Biography

Education

Hirsch grew up in

Morton Grove, Illinois Morton Grove is a village in Cook County, Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 25,297. The village is named after former United States Vice President Levi Parsons Morton, who helped finance the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railr ...

and attended

Niles West High School Niles West High School, officially Niles Township High School West or NWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School Distric ...

and graduated from Barrington High School. He attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

earning a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

Accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

. As an undergraduate, Hirsch was president of the local Theta Xi chapter and a member of the Grand Lodge. Upon graduation he continued with the

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

as alumni treasurer and the fraternity’s first National Service Project Chairman. He also received the Theta Xi National Fraternity Man of Distinction Award. Hirsch received his

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

(CPA) designation in 1982, and later attended the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

and earned a Masters of Business Administration in marketing. He is also a graduate of the IMCA Chartered Private Wealth Management Program at

the University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

and the Certified Investment Management Analyst Program at

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

’s

Wharton School of Business The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

Career

In 1982 Hirsch began his professional career as a CPA, auditor and then tax accountant with

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

in Chicago. He later worked for Smith-Barney (1985-2007) and

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

(2008-2015), before joining

in 2016.

Awards and recognitions

* National Ethnic Coalition Organization (NECO),

Ellis Island Medal of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born a ...

, 2012 * Theta Xi National Fraternity, Man of Distinction Award, 2009 * Illinois Fatherhood Initiative, Honorary Father Of The Year, 2007 * Illinois CPA Society, Distinguished Service Award, 2005 *

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

, John Stanford Education Heroes Award, 2000 * Registered Representative Magazine, Outstanding Broker, 1995 *

Crain’s Chicago Business ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is a weekly business newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, IL. It is owned by Detroit-based Crain Communications Inc., Crain Communications, a privately held publishing company with more than 30 magazines, including ''Adve ...

, 40 Under 40, 1994

Publications

* ''21st Century Dads: A Fathers Journey To Break The Cycle Of Father Absence''. Saint Louis:Transformation Media Books (2016), ISBN 941799353 (with John St Augustine) * A Case For Collapsing Private Foundations, ''Investments & Wealth Monitor'', January/February 2012

External links

21st Century Dads

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, David A. 1960 births 21st-century American businesspeople Living people