David Witkin

David Witkin, a parent at Beryl Heights Elementary School, is board vice president in the Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD). David Witkin was elected to a four-year term in 2015. One of his major initiatives was organizing "College Savings Nights". Over the course of 4 evenings in January and February 2017, over 400 parents attended seminars led by Redondo's college counselor and a financial advisor from TIAA-CREF. Parents learned how to prepare for rising tuition costs by opening Section 529 plans. In 2016, David Witkin helped to lead RBUSD's effort to pass Measure K, a ballot measure that allowed the school district to re-zone a surplus school property and generate over $600,000 per year in lease income by leasing it to an assisted living facility. Measure K received unanimous approval from both the Planning Commission and City Council in Redondo, was ratified in June 2016 by a vote of 65-35% of Redondo residents, and it received final approval from the California Coastal Commission in December 2016. The lease income is expected to allow RBUSD to afford to hire at least 7 additional teachers and staff, if necessary. 

David Witkin lives with his wife and two sons in Redondo Beach, and he is active coaching Little League. He has completed two marathons (Carlsbad and Long Beach) and is an active ocean swimmer, having raced in the iconic Pier to Pier race from Hermosa Beach to Manhattan Beach in 2014, 2015 and 2016. His wife is currently parliamentarian of the Beryl Heights Elementary School PTA. He is CEO of Beryl Capital Management, LLC, a hedge fund focused on merger arbitrage investing. David Witkin started his merger arbitrage career in 1998, when he left Harvard for a year as a sophomore to work on the risk arbitrage desk at Bear Stearns. He founded Witkin Capital Management in 2011, and he changed the name of the firm to Beryl Capital Management when he moved from New York to California in 2013. Beryl Capital Management currently has more than $75 million in assets under management.