What is Dave Van Zandt’s current job title and employer as of November 2025?
Executive summary
David E. Van Zandt is identified in multiple profiles as a legal scholar and former university president who left The New School in April 2020 and joined Invus as group-wide Global General Counsel in 2020 [1] [2]. A separate individual, Dave (Dave M.) Van Zandt, is the founder and primary editor of Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC) and is based in North Carolina; sources emphasize the two are distinct people and warn not to conflate them [3] [4] [5].
1. Who is David E. Van Zandt — an academic turned in‑house lawyer
David E. Van Zandt’s career is documented as a longtime legal academic and administrator: dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law (1995–2011) and president of The New School from 2011 until April 15, 2020 [1] [6]. After stepping down as president in 2020, profiles indicate he joined Invus and is listed there as the group-wide Global General Counsel based in New York, having joined Invus full‑time in 2020 [2]. C-SPAN and legacy academic profiles continue to describe him by his prior academic leadership roles [7] [8].
2. The Invus listing: current employer and title
Invus’s team page names David as the group‑wide Global General Counsel in the New York office and states he joined Invus in 2020 after prior consulting work [2]. That source directly ties the post‑presidency career move to a corporate legal role; the entry presents this as his employer and job title following his tenure at The New School [2].
3. The separate “Dave Van Zandt” who runs Media Bias/Fact Check
A different figure, Dave (often styled Dave M. Van Zandt), is the founder and primary editor of Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC) and owns the LLC; MBFC’s own pages and third‑party profiles describe him as sole owner/operator and site editor based in North Carolina [3] [9] [5]. InfluenceWatch likewise says MBFC was founded in 2015 by Dave M. Van Zandt, who works as the site’s editor, and explicitly warns not to confuse him with David E. Van Zandt [4].
4. Common confusion and why sources stress distinction
Several sources explicitly note the frequent name confusion: MBFC materials and InfluenceWatch warn that Dave M. Van Zandt is not David E. Van Zandt, the former New School president [3] [4] [5]. MBFC’s about and FAQ pages underline that their founder is unaffiliated with The New School and resides in North Carolina [5] [9]. The existence of two public figures with similar names and overlapping public profiles explains recurring misattribution.
5. What the available sources say about “current” as of late 2025
Profiles timestamped through 2025 indicate David E. Van Zandt’s post‑academic role at Invus began in 2020 and he is described there as Global General Counsel [2]. Wikipedia (updated October 30, 2025) continues to list David E. Van Zandt as an attorney, legal scholar, and academic administrator who served as The New School president until April 2020 and notes board and trustee roles, but does not contradict the Invus listing [1]. MBFC and InfluenceWatch entries through 2025 attribute MBFC’s leadership to Dave M. Van Zandt and reiterate the separation between the two men [3] [4].
6. Limitations and open questions in the sources
Available sources do not mention any employment change for David E. Van Zandt after the Invus listing [2]. They also do not provide a dated personnel directory or a formal Invus press release confirming ongoing status as of November 2025 beyond the Invus team page itself [2]. For Dave M. Van Zandt (MBFC), the sources document his role as founder/editor but do not state an exact corporate title beyond “founder” and “primary editor” for the LLC [9] [5].
7. Bottom line
If you mean David E. Van Zandt (the former law dean and New School president), publicly available profiles show his post‑university employer is Invus and his title is Global General Counsel [2]. If you mean Dave (Dave M.) Van Zandt who runs Media Bias/Fact Check, his role is founder and primary editor of MBFC and owner/operator of the MBFC LLC based in North Carolina [3] [9]. Sources repeatedly warn these are two distinct individuals and should not be conflated [3] [4].