Dave Butler
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Dimensional Fund Advisors
Dave Butler is co-chief executive of Dimensional Fund Advisors, a role he has held since 2017, and a former professional basketball player.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Dimensional Fund Advisors
Dave Butler is co-chief executive of Dimensional Fund Advisors, a role he has held since 2017, and a former professional basketball player.
Butler played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Pac-10 freshman of the year in 1983 and helped take the team to the National Invitation Tournament in 1986 and 1987. He graduated in 1986 with a BS in marketing and finance. The Boston Celtics drafted him in the fifth round in 1987, but he played professionally in Turkey and then Japan before returning to Berkeley for an MBA from the Haas School of Business in 1990.
He worked at Merrill Lynch from 1991 and joined Dimensional in 1995 as a regional director, earning the CFA designation in 1998. He built the firm's financial advisor business as head of global financial advisor services and became co-CEO in February 2017, when founder David Booth stepped back. He shares the role with Gerard O'Reilly and sits on Dimensional's board and on the boards of its US mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.
Sources · written 23 October 2026