Biography

Dr. David J. Fike is the President of Golden Gate University (GGU), located in San Francisco, California. Dr. Fike began his appointment in August 2015. GGU is a non-profit, higher-education institution offering graduate and undergraduate professional programs for over a century. Prior to his tenure at GGU, Dr. Fike served as the President of Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan. Previously, Dr. Fike served as the Provost for Marygrove College and the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty for Holy Names College in Oakland, California. As the Chief Academic Officer of these century-old liberal arts institutions, Dr. Fike was responsible for academic programming, student affairs programming, enrollment services, information technology, and a variety of academic and administrative support services such as information resources, student registration processes, learning support resources, and academic advising. Dr. Fike served as an elected official in Kensington, California from 1994 to 1998. He has held numerous appointed positions on Boards and Commissions, including the BioScience Workforce Advisory Team for the City of Oakland, the Life Sciences Task Force of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, the Bay Area’s Community Capital Investment Initiative, the Community Reinvestment Subcommittee of Alameda County’s Economic Development Advisory Board, the City of Oakland’s Sustainable Community Development Commission, the BayTEC Board of Directors, the Board of Directors of AnewAmerica Community Corporation, and the Board of Directors of the Chabot Space and Science Center. As an economist specializing in capital markets and urban economic development, Dr Fike has provided consulting services and research in the areas of economic revitalization, sustainable community development practices, capital-access in under-served markets, and strategic decision-making. His clients have included the City of Oakland (participating in the development of the Mayor’s Economic Development Strategy, among other projects) and the Community Bank of the Bay, the first de novo community development bank in the western United States. Dr. Fike also served as part of a team with members of Shorebank Advisory Services (consulting division for the South Shore Bank in Chicago) sent to Central America to develop a strategic plan for the establishment of a nationally-chartered bank to finance infrastructure projects for El Salvador’s cooperative sector. In 1995, Dr. Fike was granted a prestigious Kellogg National Leadership Fellowship. As a fellow, he investigated innovative public/private partnerships designing sustainable development strategies for low-income urban communities. He has presented on the topics of socially responsible investing, economic revitalization and community development and is the recipient of teaching awards from the University of Maryland, College Park and Holy Names College as well as a co-author of Everything You Need to Know About Economics, (Simon & Schuster, November 1999). Dr. Fike possesses a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Fike and his wife, Sylvia Rosales-Fike, are the proud parents of three children, Alexandra, Valeria, and David Thomas.