David Schaefer

Prior to joining GBPI as its Research Director in 2019 and becoming its Vice President of Research and Policy in 2022, David spent five years as the Managing Director of Advocacy at the Latin American Association (LAA), Georgia’s largest and oldest nonprofit serving the needs of the state’s growing Latino community. Prior to LAA, David worked at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro as a technical editor and grant writer, where he focused on K-12 policy and research. He also worked as associate chief of staff in the Office of the Chancellor, where he focused on institution- and system-level higher ed policy and co-founded ALIANZA, a university alliance of Latino students, faculty and staff.

Throughout his career, he has been a college instructor, a paralegal serving in Georgia state prisons, and an immigration attorney. David earned his law degree (with honors), Master of Arts in Political Science and Bachelor’s (summa cum laude) in Latin American Relations from the University of Georgia. He is a past member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and previously served as legislative chair for the Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies (Atlanta) and is a recipient of the North Carolina Piedmont Triad’s 40 Leaders Under 40 Award. David currently serves on the board of directors of the LAA and is licensed to practice law in Georgia and North Carolina. Fluent in Spanish and proficient in German and Portuguese, David grew up in an Argentine-German-American household, and he and his wife, an Afro-Cuban-Venezuelan professor at Kennesaw State, live in Marietta with their son, Noah.