David M. Marcinek ('93 Finance)

2024 Diversity Leadership Award

Dave is the Chairman and CEO of Venerable Holdings, Inc., an insurance company that provides risk transfer solutions to life insurance companies with variable annuity blocks. He has served in this role since the company’s founding in 2018.

Before joining Venerable, Dave had a 19-year career with Goldman Sachs, retiring as a partner in 2016. Having held several roles over that span, he was most recently the co-head of the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) Financing Group for the Americas in the Investment Banking Division (IBD) and co-head of the Insurance sector for FIG Americas.

Dave earned a BS in Finance from The Pennsylvania State University in 1993 and an MBA from Columbia University in 1998.

Dave is committed to creating opportunities for underrepresented populations and has proven this in several ways through his personal and professional life, as well as through his volunteerism and philanthropy at Smeal.

During his 8-year tenure as partner at Goldman, Dave successfully advocated for the firm to recruit a higher number of diverse candidates from Smeal. Now, at Venerable, Dave continues that pursuit by ensuring his company is being purposeful in locating a broad range of candidates, including those from communities historically underrepresented in the industry. He has also consciously worked with the Venerable community to create an open and welcoming environment for all. Under his leadership, the company joined CEO Action for Racial Equity, which works to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Additionally, Venerable is a sponsor of Junior Achievement, the International Association of Black Actuaries, South Asian Network of Actuaries, and DEI projects for teachers through DonorsChoose.

In December 2020, Dave engaged Dr. Jamie Campbell, associate dean of diversity enhancement programs at Smeal to partner with and help educate Venerable colleagues on diversity-related issues. The conversation was centered around preparing current business students to be leaders that focus on diversity and inclusion when they graduate and ensuring they have the necessary skills to lead diverse teams. As founder and co-chair of the Smeal Finance Advisory Board, Dave has also led several conversations with students, faculty, and staff and board members to address increasing all aspects of diversity in the Finance major. Dr. Campbell participated in several of the board’s conversations to discuss strategies around this topic.

Dave champions advocacy and role modeling for DEI topics when engaging with Venerable’s Board of Directors, lending support for initiatives that further charitable giving, volunteerism, and representation of women and marginalized groups in leadership’s succession planning. Dave is particularly passionate about making sure that these issues do not dwindle, and instead, result in long-term change and impact. As a result, DEI remains a top priority at Venerable, along with other strategic business objectives.

Dave and his wife, Susan, have supported Dean Whiteman’s commitment to addressing diversity issues. In the summer 2022, the couple endowed the Marcinek Early Career Professorship at Smeal to support faculty who contribute to the diversity of the Smeal community. Additionally, Susan is a passionate supporter of equity at the Brooklyn Public Library, where she has been a board member since 2012, serving as Chair from 2019-2022. Pathways to Leadership, an initiative created by Susan and funded by the Marcineks, seeks to diversify the field of librarianship and provide career growth opportunities for Brooklyn Public Library staff as they pursue part-time master’s in library science degrees.