Session Instructor and President, MDC, Inc.

David L. Dodson is president of MDC, Inc., a private nonprofit that seeks to advance the South through research and programs that expand economic opportunity, reduce poverty, and build inclusive communities.  Since joining MDC in 1987, he has directed major projects to strengthen public schools and community colleges, address rural economic decline, create new philanthropic structures, and build multiracial leadership for civic change in the Carolinas, the Deep South, and Appalachia.  He most recently helped The Duke Endowment design its $10 million Program for the Rural Carolinas, for which MDC serves as managing partner.
    
Mr. Dodson is coauthor of several MDC publications including: Building Communities by Design: A Leadership Resource Guide for Community Development (2002), Creating Economic Opportunities for Every Young Person (2000), and Building Communities of Conscience and Conviction: Lessons from MDC’s Recent Experience.  He is a member of the North Carolina Progress Board and a Trustee/Director of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, The Hitachi Foundation, Center for Community Self-Help, Center for Law and Social Policy, Corporation for Enterprise Development, and Dwight Hall at Yale, the university center for community service and social justice.  He has been Visiting Lecturer in the Hart Leadership Program, Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy, Duke University.

Mr. Dodson is a graduate of Yale University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in architecture and urban policy and master's degrees in divinity and in public and private management. Prior to joining MDC, he served as executive director of the Cummins Engine Foundation and director of corporate responsibility for Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana.