David W. Nelms retired as chairman of the board of directors and Chief Executive Officer of Discover Financial Services at the end of 2018. During his 20+ year tenure leading Discover, it grew to be the most profitable US credit card company with 17,000 employees and over $100B of assets.

During the decade following a spin-off from Morgan Stanley in 2007, DFS led all 80+ S&P Financial companies in total return to shareholders.

Discover became the 3rd largest global network with over 40MM accepting merchants following the acquisitions of the Pulse debit network and Diners Club International. DFS also became the second largest US private student lender and grew direct consumer deposits to over $50B.

 

Before his appointment at Discover in September 1998, Nelms serve as a vice chairman of MBNA America Bank. Prior to that, he held management positions at Progressive Insurance, General Electric Company, and Bain and Company.

 

David is currently the Lead Director of the Board of Directors for CDW Corporation, serves on the Executive Board of The University of Florida Foundation and is a board member of Conserving Carolina. He previously served as Audit Chairmen on the Chicago Federal Reserve Board of Directors and as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s representative on the Federal Advisory Council of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Chairman of the Executives’ Club of Chicago, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Chicago. He also previously served on the board of the Financial Services Roundtable, the International Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago.

 

Nelms hold a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Ellen Leake, and her husband Eason, became connected with JDRF in 1994 when their daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with T1D at age 10. Five years later they formed the JDRF Mississippi Chapter with a group of friends. She has worked in numerous roles in the chapter, including president from 2002 to 2003. She co-founded Mississippi Cures, the state advocacy and public policy group in support of stem cell research. Ellen was awarded the Jim Tyree Chairman’s Award in 2015.

Ellen currently serves on the JDRF Nominating & Governance Committee and recently completed a two-year term as Chair of the JDRF International Board of Directors. Formerly, she served as Vice-Chair of the International Board from 2016 to 2018. She also chaired the Development Committee from 2013 to 2014, the Lay Review Committee from 2011 to 2012, and other various board committees since joining the International Board of JDRF in 2008. She also served as an at-large member of the National Institutes of Health’s NIDDK Advisory Council and currently serves as a member of the National (Diabetes) Clinical Care Commission, an appointment by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Ellen currently leads a family timber and land development business in Mississippi. Previously she had a long and successful career with IBM where she was an executive in the Financial Services sector. Prior to joining IBM she was an aide to U.S. Senator, Thad Cochran.

She received a B.A. in economics from the University of Mississippi and an M.B.A. from Tulane University.