David S. Chang

David Sung Yeul Chang (born January 4, 1980) is a Korean-American political figure, military combat veteran, entrepreneur and CEO, keynote speaker and editor of The Art of Thinking Smart, based in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the chairman and CEO of Chang Holding Company Incorporated, a military intelligence officer in the Hawaii Army National Guard, and is the former chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party and the Republican National Committee. Chang was elected chair in November 2011 for the 2011–2013 term and re-elected for another two-year term in May 2013, but resigned in March 2014, before the end of his term. In 2017, David S. Chang was under federal investigation and later reached a settlement with the Security Exchange Commission in 2020 and lost his ability to serve as a financial advisor.Settlement between SEC & David S Chang

Early life

Chang was born in Sacramento, California, and is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Computer Science. After West Point, Chang was selected as an East-West Graduate Degree Fellow and attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa where he graduated with a Masters in Arts in Political Science, with a specialty in Asian Politics. He received a Leadership Certificate from the East-West Center and received his master's degree in Theological Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary.

Chang is a second generation Korean-American.

Political life 2010 Campaign for State Representative for the 28th District In 2010, Chang ran for State Representative for the 28th District (Palama, Chinatown, Downtown, Lower Makiki, Sheridan) as a Republican. Chang was unopposed for the primary election and received 597 (77.5%) votes. In the general election on November 2, 2010, Chang lost to incumbent Democrat Karl Rhoads by 3,203 (52.3%) to 2,636 (43%) votes.

On September 23, 2010, Lynne Matusow and Anthony Chang filed a lawsuit against Scott Nago, In His Official Capacity as Chief Election Officer of the State of Hawaii Office of Elections, and Chang alleging that Chang was not a resident of the 28th Representative District at the time he filed papers to run and therefore should be disqualified from the November 2010 general election. A similar challenge to the Office of Elections in August 2010 had failed. On December 7, 2010, after the general election, the court granted the defendants' motion summary judgment and subsequently granted judgment in favor of Nago and Chang.

The party's state committee is made up of 51 elected House District chairpersons, 4 county chairs, executive committee members and Republican leaders in the Hawaii State House and Senate. At the time, Chang was 31 years old, making him the youngest person in the country to ever to assume the position of state party chair. to $575,537.63 during the January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012, period. Contributions also fell again for the January 1, 2013, to December, 31, 2014, period to $518,386.10.

Under Chang, Republicans failed to field candidates for more legislative races than the previous election. In 2010, under the previous chair, Republicans fielded candidates in 63 of the total 66 (95%) races for state Senate and House of Representative seats. In 2012, under Chang, Republicans fielded candidates in 49 of the total 71 (64%) races for state Senate and House of Representative seats. For the 2012 general election, two incumbent Republicans (George Fontaine and Corinne Ching) lost elections to Democrats and one Republican, his then-wife Beth Fukumoto, defeated an incumbent Democrat, for a net loss of one state House of Representatives seat. The number of Republicans in the state Senate did not change due to the 2012 election. Democrat Colleen Hanabusa also defeated former congressman Republican Charles Djou by 116,505 (53.5%) to 96,824 (44.4%) votes and Democrat Tulsi Gabbard defeated Republican Kawika Crowley 168,503 (76.8%) to 40,707 (18.6%) votes in the two races for United States Representative for Hawaii.

Due to his position as chair, Chang served as a superdelegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention.

In March 2013, Chang traveled to Seoul, Korea for an appearance with former American President George W. Bush. On the same day, Chang stated that during his first term, the party moved from being $110,000 in debt to posting a modest surplus and that the party attracted 5,000 new members and 1,000 new donors. WealthBridge Inc., was selected as a FIVE-STAR Wealth Manager for the State of Hawaii in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011. WealthBridge Inc. was selected by The National Association of Board Certified Advisory Practices (NABCAP) as a Premier Advisor for 2014, 2013 and 2012.

He was selected as a member of The Top 40 Under 40 Military Class of 2013. In 2011, Pacific Edge Magazine selected Chang as Young Professional of the Year. In 2010, he was selected as the Business Leader of the Year from the Pacific Business News 2010 class of Forty Under 40 in Hawaii. In 2011, he was a finalist for The Business Leadership Hawaii American Savings Bank Business Leader of the Year.

Chang currently has a blog called The Art of Thinking SMART and The Art of SMART Money, and the.

Personal life Chang received his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and is an alumnus of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program and received a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from Babson College. Chang also earned a Certificate of Leadership from the East-West Center and was selected as an East-West Graduate Degree Fellow.

Chang is a past chair and member of the steering committee for the Young Professionals program of The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. Chang is also involved with local church ministries and teaches at an 8,000 member church.