David Batstone

David Batstone

Professor

Biography

Professor David Batstone teaches in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at USF School of Management. Previously a private equity banker in the technology industry, Batstone is published widely in both academia and the popular press. His five books feature entrepreneurship at the crossroads of business and society.  USA (Today) Weekend describes Batstone as “one of the country’s leading authorities on ethics in the business world."

A sought-after speaker and consultant to businesses and nonprofits alike, Batstone works with entrepreneurs and investors to create forward-thinking companies that return dignity to people and planet and shares his unique model for developing successful enterprises that create an opportunity for everyone. His ground-breaking work has earned him numerous awards. Most recently the United Nations Women for Peace Association selected him as their annual Peace Award winner in 2017.  He also was awarded in 2017 the Harari Conscious Leadership and Social Innovation prize (USF School of Management award).

Batstone is the founder and managing director of Just Business, a social impact investment firm. His portfolio of successful ventures includes REBBL " top new organic beverage in the USA" (2016), Relocity, American Battery, Hydra Energy, Haus of Z, and Not For Sale. As founder of Not For Sale, Batstone has connected business leaders, celebrities, politicians, and students to design strategic solutions for the 30 million human slaves in the world today.

In 1997 Batstone was one of the founding team members of Business 2.0 magazine, which burst onto the publishing scene with National Magazine Award “Best New US Magazine."  Time-Warner acquired Business 2.0 magazine in 2001. Batstone also has been a contributor to The New York Times, Wired, The Chicago Tribune, Spin, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and The San Francisco Chronicle.

Education

  • Ph.D., Systematic Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, 1989
  • M.Div, Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA, 1984
  • M.Div, International Baptist Seminary, Rüschlikon, Switzerland, 1982
  • BA, Psychology, Westmont College, CA, 1980

Prior Experience

  • Foreign Correspondent, San Francisco Examiner, 1994-1995
  • Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture, New College for Advanced Christian Studies, Berkeley, CA, 1991-1993

Awards & Distinctions

  • Nautilus Award, "2004 Best Business Book," Saving the Corporate Soul And (Who Knows?) Maybe Your Own

  • Alumni Global Service Award, Westmont College, 2010

  • Evangelical Press Award for "Best Regular Column," 2002

  • Evangelical Press Award for "Best General Feature," 2002

  • National Endowment for the Humanities Chair, USF, 1998-1999 (for work in technology and ethics)

  • First Prize National Award for "Innovative Programming in the Humanities," Universities of Continuing Education, 1997

  • National Journalist Award, Associated Church Press, for "Best News Story," 1996

  • National Journalist Award, Associated Church Press, for "Best Interview," 1996

Selected Publications

  • Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade - and How We Can Fight It, Harper Collins, 2010

  • From Conquest to Struggle: Jesus of Nazareth in Latin America, State University of New York Press, 2009

  • Saving the Corporate Soul and (Who Knows?) Maybe Your Own, Jossey-Bass, 2003