David Whitman

President and Founder of Whitman Wordsmithing & Communications

David Whitman is founder and president of Whitman Wordsmithing & Communications and has served as a consultant to the Knight Commission since 2015. He was the chief speechwriter for U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan from mid-2009 to November 2014 and also worked on college sports issues at the education department. Prior to that, he covered social policy for U.S. News & World Report for nearly two decades, from 1985 to 2003.

Whitman is the author of The Profits of Failure: For-Profit Colleges and the Closing of the Conservative Mind (Cypress House, Fort Bragg, CA, 2021). He also authored the award-winning book, Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner City Schools and the New Paternalism (Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 2008). His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the Atlantic, New Republic, and numerous other publications.