David Medina

David Medina was born in 1969 and raised on the South Side of Chicago in a close-knit, low-income Mexican-American family. His parents, who held deep convictions about the transformative power of education, instilled in David and his two sisters the belief that education could help them achieve the American Dream. Beyond academic aspirations, his parents also nurtured a strong commitment to helping those less fortunate, a value that would become the organizing principle of David's entire professional life.

The contrast between his family's circumstances and the more extreme poverty he witnessed during childhood visits to relatives in Mexico crystallized his personal mission. As he would later reflect, after witnessing poverty in Mexico through his mother's extended family connections, he became absolutely certain that he wanted to devote his life to helping the poor. This moment of realization during childhood represents a crucial turning point in understanding his later career decisions and consistent focus on policy work addressing poverty, inequality, and opportunity expansion.

During his youth in South Chicago, David began demonstrating the activist orientation that would characterize his adult life. At age twenty-two, while still a young man, he took on the responsibility of helping to register voters on Chicago's South Side. Additionally, while maintaining ties with his South Side neighborhood, he organized afterschool programs for low-income students at his church, reflecting his determination to create pathways for others similar to the ones he had been granted.

David's path to higher education began when a high school guidance counselor recognized his potential and encouraged him to apply to the University of Chicago. He would not have been able to attend without receiving a generous combination of merit scholarships, grants, and work-study opportunities that made attendance financially feasible. At the University of Chicago, David completed his undergraduate degree with a major in Political Science, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991. During his time as an undergraduate, he served as Student Government President and became a member of Phi Delta Theta, a service-oriented fraternity.

Following his undergraduate education, David pursued advanced training in public policy, earning a Master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 1993. This education at one of the nation's leading institutions for public policy training positioned him within a network of future policy leaders and provided him with frameworks for understanding policy analysis, implementation, and advocacy.

David's professional career began in earnest in the mid-1990s following his graduation from Harvard Kennedy School. He served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, one of the first African-American women elected to the U.S. Senate, and later as a field representative for her office. From 1998 to 2003, he served as a legislative representative for the AFL-CIO, focusing on tax, appropriations, budget, campaign finance reform, civil rights, and electoral reform issues. During this same period, he worked as Policy Director for the Democratic National Committee.

David's experience expanded into campaign work when he served as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the 2004 Democratic National Convention Committee, based in Boston. In the 2007-2008 election cycle, he became the National Political Director for U.S. Senator John Edwards's presidential campaign and later served as the Political Director at Edwards's One America Committee.

In 2008, David was appointed as Director of Government Relations at the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign. Following President Barack Obama's election, he accepted a position as Deputy Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, serving in this position from January to October 2009. According to his own account, he was surprised to find himself in this position and spent his first 45 minutes meeting with Mrs. Obama discussing the possibility of serving as her deputy chief of staff. He credits Mrs. Obama with helping him get back to his life's passion of fighting poverty.

After leaving the First Lady's office in October 2009, David joined the Peace Corps as the Director of the Office of Public Engagement, serving from 2009 to 2012. In this position, he managed several of the Peace Corps's national initiatives designed to promote better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans and to build strategic partnerships between the Peace Corps and non-profit organizations throughout the United States.

In 2012, David co-founded Results for America, where he served as Chief Operating Officer until his passing. Results for America is described as "the leading national, bipartisan, nonprofit organization helping cities, states, and federal agencies harness the power of evidence and data to solve our world's greatest challenges." Under his leadership as COO, Results for America grew to work with more than 300 cities, states, and federal departments. The organization developed an annual federal Invest in What Works index and led the What Works Cities initiative, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Throughout his career, David dedicated significant time to service on the boards of major national organizations. He served on the board of directors for the Human Rights Campaign for six years, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and the University of Chicago's Alumni Visiting Committee. He also served as board chair for the Working America Education Fund and as a member of the National Academy of Public Administration since 2016.

David openly identified as Hispanic and gay. In 2013, he married Tim DeMagistris at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He had been involved in LGBTQ rights advocacy throughout his career, helping organize the Millennium March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation and previously attending the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation in 1993.

In 2025, David published a non-fiction book titled "Shakespeare's Greatest Love," released by Disruption Books. The book presented a detailed historical and literary argument about the relationship between William Shakespeare and Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, arguing that Southampton was Shakespeare's greatest love and demonstrating through evidence that Shakespeare wrote more plays and poems for and about Southampton than anyone else.

David testified before the Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission on behalf of Results for America, connecting his personal and family experiences with poverty and government programs to his professional mission. He noted that throughout his life, he and his family had benefitted from opportunity-expanding federal programs including earned income tax credits, Head Start, Pell grants, Perkins loans, and unemployment benefits. His personal experience with these programs informed his conviction that investing taxpayer dollars in effective and efficient programs can help improve outcomes and opportunity for families and communities.

David Medina's life reflected a remarkable trajectory from poverty on Chicago's South Side to prominence in national policy circles. His career was characterized by consistent commitment to public service, particularly focused on fighting poverty, advancing equality, and promoting evidence-based governance. His journey demonstrates the transformative power of education and his unwavering dedication to expanding opportunities for others facing circumstances similar to his own childhood experiences.