David Jaffe is currently the Chair of two charities. FARE, co-founded by David, is the largest organization supporting food allergy research, education and advocacy. SubjectToClimate, also started by David, provides educators with resources to teach about climate change.  In addition, he is an angel investor and advisor to early stage entrepreneurs and investors.

​Until his retirement in 2019, David was the Chairman and CEO of Ascena Retail Group, Inc., a Fortune 500 retailer of apparel for women and tween girls.  Ascena generated $7 billion in annual sales, operated over 4,500 stores across the U.S. and Canada and employed 65,000 associates through its eight distinct brands: Ann Taylor, Loft, Lou & Grey, Lane Bryant, Justice, dressbarn, maurices and Catherines.

​David’s previous experience was as a General Partner of Chemical Venture Partners, a private equity firm, and as a portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch.  He received a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his BS/BA from the Wharton School/University of Pennsylvania. In 2020-21 he was a Fellow at Harvard’s Advance Leadership Initiative. 

​David is a Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and a member of the Latin American Region Trustee’s Council of The Nature Conservancy.

​He and his wife have four grown children and alternate their time between NYC and New Canaan, CT.