David Sylvester is a partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners. For 24 years, Sylvester was an attorney whose practice included advising private and public companies in the areas of early through late-stage venture capital financings, public offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and general corporate law. In 2000, he established the Northern Virginia office of Hale and Dorr, LLP now Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP, where he was instrumental in connecting early stage companies in the region with venture capital financing and assisting later stage companies access the public capital markets. Companies he assisted include CareerBuilder, OTG Software, Proxicom, and Ciena. Prior to joining Wilmer, Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Sylvester worked with Silicon Valley companies such as Electronic Arts and Apple Computer at the firm of Fenwick & West in Palo Alto.

Sylvester has been recognized for exceptional standing in the legal community in the areas of corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in 2003 through 2006. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of leveraged buyouts and private equity and securities law.

Throughout his career, Sylvester has been active in the community. A New Orleans native and former New Orleans public housing resident, he has spent the last year working on both informal and formal rebuilding efforts in the hurricane damaged region, spending a week a month in that city. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Isidore Newman School and on the Board of Directors of The Idea Village Inc., a nonprofit business accelerator, both in New Orleans. He is a past president and current member of the Board of VPP investment partner Heads Up, a leading provider of after school and summer programs in Washington, DC. He is also a past president and former member of the Board of Directors of the AHC, Inc., a private nonprofit organization that provides low- and moderate-income housing to more than 6,000 residents in the Mid-Atlantic Region. In addition, Sylvester has served as pro bono General Counsel to the Midnight Basketball League, Inc. and to the National Association of Midnight Basketball Leagues, Inc., is a former member of the Board and General Counsel to the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA), and is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Arlington, Virginia, chapter of the NAACP.