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Candidate Details

SMUS Board Service: 3 years as a SMUS Board Member.  Has previously served in a Board leadership role as Board Secretary.   Currently also serves on the Governance and Advancement Committees.

Relationship to SMUS: Alumnus ’05

Primary Occupation: General Counsel, Savvy Games Group (Qualified to Practice in New York and Ontario)

Place of Residence: Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Key Contributions, Attributes and Qualities:

• David brings significant expertise in navigating complex governance, investment, regulatory, strategy and legal matters across the globe and brings a wide range of perspectives as an alum, former day student and international businessperson leading globally diverse teams to bring a holistic perspective to the Board
• David serves as General Counsel to Savvy Games Group, a global games and esports company wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where he is responsible for all governance, risk management, compliance and legal affairs. 
• David’s career spans roles in both private practice and in-house in Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity and Venture Capital based in Toronto, New York, Washington, DC and Saudi Arabia.  David has worked for the Danaher Corporation, Latham & Watkins LLP and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP and brings a global perspective to governance, risk and legal matters, particularly with respect to technology, intellectual property, and life sciences.

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Nomination Q&A

1. Please provide a general candidate overview, that summarizes your background experience including your professional and educational background.

J. David Kim ’05 is an alumnus of SMUS and serves as General Counsel of Savvy Games Group, one of the world’s leading games and esports businesses and a portfolio company of the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Savvy invests leading mobile games and e-sports entities in line with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program to transform the Kingdom’s economy as a national champion.

In his role, David is responsible for all governance, risk management, compliance and legal matters.  David has played a pivotal role in Savvy’s acquisition of the games business of Niantic, Inc. through its subsidiary, Scopely, Inc. to acquire the Pokémon Go! franchise and the acquisition of Moonton Games headquartered in Shanghai, China.  David serves as Secretary to various Board Committees of Savvy and its subsidiaries, including Audit & Risk, Nomination & Remunerations and its Executive Committee.

David began his career at the Toronto law firm of Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg LLP where he developed a practice in M&A and corporate matters.  David then relocated to New York City where he served as a senior associate in the M&A group of Latham & Watkins LLP, one of the world’s preeminent law firms where he served numerous private equity investors and global companies to structure and execute highly complex transactions.  David also previously served as Senior Counsel, M&A and Venture Capital at the Danaher Corporation in Washington, DC, one of the world’s leading science and technology innovators.

David obtained his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and his undergraduate degree in Human Biology and Political Science at the University of Toronto.  Prior to his legal career, David served in the Canadian Armed Forces as a Field Artillery Officer in both full and part time roles.

2. If a new Governor candidate, please describe how you meet the desired experience and skills areas as set forth in the January 23, 2026, Call for Nominations. If a returning Governor candidate, please describe what unique skills and experience you bring to the Board, together with how you have contributed to the Board and the work of its Committees during your time on the Board.

Personally, my SMUS journey was that of a day student but one whose attendance would not have been possible without significant access to financial aid. From that perspective, I am deeply cognizant of the importance of financial aid to many deserving SMUS families.  However, my experience serving on the Board and its Advancement and Governance Committees have given me a holistic perspective on the challenges of running an independent school to balance competing needs for resources, particularly during these challenging times for many independent schools around the world.  Having relocated to the Middle East during the last 3 years as well as being a former US resident, I have broad knowledge of various models of independent school ecosystems.

Professionally, in my role as the General Counsel of one of the world’s leading games and esports businesses with a footprint that spans North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, I am charged with all governance, risk management, compliance and legal matters in a business that operates at the forefront of technology, entertainment, media and national security.  Leading a diverse team of professionals whose backgrounds and cultures that span continents, I bring a culturally aware style of leadership and understanding of the diverse needs of our community.

Bringing deep expertise in science, technology and entertainment, I am eager to continue to contribute my expertise to the Board as we continue to advance Floreat and STEAM programs.  I have also served as an Officer of the Board and as Board Secretary during my first term and intend to continue doing so as I live and breathe governance in my professional capacity in highly regulatory and sensitive sectors involving healthcare, data privacy and mobile games throughout my career. 

Question 3: What is your Connection to SMUS

I am an alumnus of SMUS, having graduated in 2005 after joining the Middle School in Grade 8.  David is a returning Governor and a member of the Governance and Advancement Committees.

4. Why Do You Want to Be on the Board of Governors of SMUS

I benefited greatly from the rounded education and preparation for life that SMUS gave me as a first-generation immigrant.  SMUS not only helped me adjust to life in Canada while giving me a global perspective by being able to make meaningful friendships with people from a wide range of cultures. Perhaps even more importantly, SMUS played a significant role in building my character through competitive sports like Senior Boys Rugby, values of which I continue to benefit from. Now in my role working at the forefront of technology, I believe that SMUS’ mission to provide an outstanding preparation for life to our students and its focus on a balanced education that include arts, athletics, leadership and service in addition to academics as articulated in Floreat is more important than ever.

Now having served as Governor, I continue to be impressed by the passion that our faculty, staff and fellow alumni have for our school.  They are the bedrock of our community who preserve and grow this special place and having now been exposed to numerous non-profit and for-profit school peers in my role as Governor, I truly believe that SMUS is a unique institution that helps students flourish to the best of their potential.  Personally, I would not be the person that I am without the teachers who genuinely cared about me as a person, without the administrators who made sure I had access to financial aid, and I am well aware of good governance that must take place to ensure that the school continues on this path.  As an international General Counsel with experiences in Canada, US and the Middle East, I believe I have insights and experiences of an energetic working professional that I can bring to benefit the Board.

5. What personal and professional experience would you bring to the Board if selected?

As noted above, as a former day student but one who greatly benefited from financial aid, I am have an personal understanding of the need for sustainability and how our community is made better through accessibility.  Having served on the Board and in particular, on Advancement and Governance Committees, I also have a deep understanding of the financial challenges of running an independent school, which is an issue facing many independent schools around the world.  I would like to continue bringing my balanced perspective for the betterment of the entire SMUS community.

As a professional, I also bring deep, day to day industry knowledge of entertainment, data, AI and how these profound changes in technology is impacting education.  I know that many parents are concerned about content that their children are exposed to with seemingly ever increasing intensity and frequency, and I recognize the sense of uncertainty that parents and teachers feel on AI and what relevance a SMUS education has in the future.  During my first term on the Board, we have worked hard to advance our STEAM programming and related facilities to ensure that our SMUS education doesn’t just remain relevant, but becomes a model for education in tomorrow’s education.  I am keen to continue advancing this initiative forward and ensure that as a Board and as a community, we do not merely follow trends, but that we continue to ground ourselves in our Mission, Vision and Values that have been at the core of our SMUS community.

6. Do you understand and agree to the principles of Good Governance as outlined on the Society web page?

Following my first term as Governor, I continue to believe that the central theme of SMUS to me remains its outstanding teachers and staff and I strongly believe that  the proper role of the Board is not to administer the school but to guide the planning and execution of its long term plan with the Head of School at its centre. Therefore, principles of good governance, which must include respect for confidentiality, observing proper lines of communication and supporting the collective decision of the Board must be central to a Board member’s conduct, which I strongly support and advocate for as an attorney living these principles every day in my professional life.

Overall I remain committed to working with working with the Head and the Board to advance the school’s Mission, Vision, and Values. They are timeless values, as shown by the impact that the school has had on the lives of its students, and they ought to be shepherded with prudence, particularly during these challenging times where models of education and independent school ecosystems are changing faster than ever in ever increasingly unprecedented ways.

7. Do you understand and support the Floreat strategic plan for SMUS?

Yes, during my first term as Governor, I have gotten to see the value and importance of a cohesive and relevant long term plan such as Floreat that provides a guidepost for our current community and for prospective parents and students.  It serves to enable us to think and make decisions in an intentional, cohesive manner to deliver education with relevance to an everchanging educational landscape and serves as a competitive tool as an independent school to attract talented students and faculty alike.

As an attorney and a business leader, I see many otherwise well-organized businesses with good leaders heading in unintended directions, make contradictory decisions and lose focus because they have no long-term plan that has been aligned with its key stakeholders. Floreat makes it clear that, among other priorities, SMUS must prioritize instructional time, which is supported by robust financial performance and realized through investing in professional development and facilities which attract and retain a strong student/parent community. I am also supportive of the priority placed on opportunities for all athletes, which has made a great difference in my own life not only as a student but throughout my adult life and in an increasingly digitized world, I strongly believe that our focus on building a balanced person in academics, arts and athletics is more important and relevant than ever before.

8. Do you understand and support the need for a culture of philanthropy at SMUS, both amongst the Society Members and the Board itself? And if elected to the Board, please confirm that you plan to contribute to both the Annual Fund and the Journey For Life Campaign for each year that you are on the Board?

Yes, as a returning Governor and member of the Advancement Committee, I understand the interplay between fees, giving and the school’s short- and long-term needs. As a younger donor and a former financial aid recipient, I believe that those of us who have benefited from giving also have a responsibility to come to the aid of today’s generation of students. For the school to continue to build a diverse, vibrant student body, which is critical to preparing students for success in today’s universities and global workplaces, we will always need giving to enable access and to enable the school to continue having world-class facilities and teaching in order to enhance our outreach to the wider world to build a broader community.  I confirm that I plan to contribute to both the Annual Fund and the Journey For Life Campaign for each year that I am on the Board as I have during my first term as Governor.

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