DAVID MORGAN - Full Bio

David has nearly two decades of experience in senior legal, government, nonprofit, and corporate sector roles.  He most recently served for almost ten years as Vice President Government Affairs for the American Express Company (Amex) where he managed the government and public affairs portfolios for the Amex small business division and the tax and human resources functions.  He also served as Treasurer of Amex’s political action committee.  David was responsible for representing Amex before Congress and the Executive Branch on a broad portfolio of issues primarily centered on taxes, financial services, healthcare, and small business.  David was also responsible for overseeing external affairs for Small Business Saturday and other key small business division initiatives, and for complying with Amex’s political action committee and lobbying disclosure reporting and monitoring requirements.  He worked closely with Amex’s tax department on tax implementation, reporting issues before the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury, and on monitoring and shaping changing tax rules in major international markets.  His notable accomplishments at Amex include:

• Developed and executed a successful lobbying strategy to shield Amex’s high deductible HSA health plans from being impacted by Health Care Reform.
• Developed and executed a successful lobbying strategy to get Congress to permanently extend a tax provision that significantly lowered Amex’s effective tax rate by deferring U.S. tax on Amex’s overseas income.
• Developed and executed a lobbying strategy to get Treasury to remove provisions in the final 6050W credit card reporting regulations and the FATCA regulations that would have potentially destroyed Amex’s overseas business.
• Secured unprecedented Administration and Congressional support for Amex’s Small Business Saturday initiative which is now nationally recognized.
• Expanded Amex small business division’s partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration and secured recognition for Amex’s ChallengeHER government contracting partnership with the SBA in the Obama Administration’s FY 2017 budget.
• Developed streamlined processes for employees to report and Amex leaders to certify compliance with federal and state lobbying and gift rules.

Prior to joining Amex, David was the President of the New Orleans Partnership, a nonprofit organization that coordinated investments and tax credits to support affordable homeownership, business expansion, and skilled employment opportunities in New Orleans particularly following Hurricane Katrina.  His primary duties included: working with Louisiana elected officials, corporate executives, and civic leaders to plan and implement a major economic development pilot initiative called Louisiana Initiative for Tomorrow (LIFT); recruiting private sector partners and developing relationships with political and community leaders for support and financial resources; and, recruiting and building a team of housing, investment, and community development professionals.

Prior to that, David served for six years as the tax and legislative counsel to a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.  In that role, he worked closely with members of the Committee and Administration officials to enact and monitor the implementation of significant tax legislation.  He was responsible for legislative initiatives in the areas of banking, housing, and small business.

Prior to his time on Capitol Hill, David worked for two years at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Miller & Chevalier Chartered, where he focused on a number of substantive taxation issues including taxation of final products, taxation of corporations, and taxation of international transactions.

David currently serves as Board Chair of Patten University where he worked with the University President to secure WASC accreditation for pioneering a competency-based learning model.  He was also instrumental in transitioning Patten University from an on-ground to an online institution while maintaining positive and productive relationships with accreditors, its corporate parent, media, community, and other important stakeholders.

David received a B.S. from Cornell University, a J.D. from Harvard University Law School, and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.  He is a member of the Bar in New York and the District of Columbia.  David is also a board member of the Capital Area Reach Program and a member of the Potomac Coalition, an economic development and political advocacy organization focused on expanding economic opportunities for African Americans.