David E. Driver was an American publisher of books and an investor. The successes of David E. Dreyer's career ranged from institutional investment in the boom of the 1980s to book publishing in the 1990s.
Background
David was born on October 17, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was the son of Edward, who was a postman and Esther Driver, a housewife.
As a child, his small height did not succumb to sports, so he was "a real bookworm," he told a Chicago Tribune contributor. However, this did not exclude such high ambitions as becoming a rider. With the warning of his grandfather that he instead became a professional, for example a doctor or a lawyer, the driver put his views on the latter - not in the least, because he could not take the blood out of sight. But, growing on public aid in an area inside the city on the west side of Chicago, did not pave the easy way to a legal career.
Education
Along with excellent grades, garnered Driver admission to Lindblom High School, an elite public trade school. It was there that Driver first became aware of his family’s poverty. He studied at Bradley University during 1972-1976. Then he graduated from the University of Chicago Business School in 1976-1979.
Career
David E. Driver started his career with the position of staff accountant an Arthur Young & Company in 1976. He held this position till 1978. Then this year he became a finance manager at International Hospital Supply Corporation untill 1980. He worked as an account executive at Merrill Lynch Capital Markets during the years 1980-1982. He was a founder and president of Noble Press from 1988. Also from 1989 he began writing books.
By 1991, Noble Press had a full-time staff of five working in the refurbished loft of a former bicycle factory, and a number of its titles had received critical notice. The Parents’ Guide to Innovative Education, by Ann W. Dodd, for example, received a Child magazine award in 1992. However, the company struggled financially as it released titles true to its social mission but lacking sufficient sales, including Eco-Warriors, A Just And Lasting Peace, and books tackling the issues of homelessness and child abuse. Driver concluded that such titles were perhaps better suited to college presses and decided to take a more market-driven approach by shifting Noble’s focus to general interest titles for the black community-at-large, including fiction and even romance novels.
The Noble Press’ breakthrough book, Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience, had significant popular appeal and a social message, as well. The book gave an irreverent and unforgiving account of black author Janet Nelson’s four years as a liberal activist struggling to make her voice heard as a writer for the Washington Post Magazine. It also explored the meaning of black identity in the United States. Released in the spring of 1993, Volunteer Slavery sold more than 40,000 hardcover copies before Noble sold it to Penguin for a paperback release that became a national best-seller. It also won an American Book Award in 1994.
Other publications, such as Black and Single by Larry E. Davis, sold equally as well for Noble. These and other successes proved the wisdom of diversifying the company’s catalog and targeting a black audience. Noble turned its first profit in 1993, as annual sales reached nearly one million dollars, and its distribution outlets increased to 6,000. Unwilling to let the opportunities of new technology pass by Noble Press, Driver began exploring avenues for Internet applications, which included placing the firm’s catalog online. He also founded the Black Literary Society, a book club that places its reading list of Noble Press and other black-oriented books on the Internet. In 1995, Driver explored the possibility of a CD-ROM that would document a traveling museum exhibit featuring black architects. Unsatisfied with simply publishing significant and entertaining books and helping to manifest the potential of a once underestimated and under-served black reading public, Driver continues the volunteer work that has always been his marker of personal success. He founded and runs a program called Young Chicago Authors that provides Saturday morning workshops for aspiring high school-age writers. Driver invites accomplished writers and others well-versed in the trade to speak to the students and help them hone their skills.
Views
Unsatisfied with simply publishing significant and entertaining books and helping to manifest the potential of a once underestimated and under-served African American reading public, Driver continues the volunteer work that has always been his marker of personal success. He founded and runs a program called Young Chicago Authors that provides Saturday morning workshops for aspiring high school-age writers. Driver invites accomplished writers and others well-versed in the trade to speak to the students and help them hone their skills.
Membership
At Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, Driver confronted his immersion in an almost all-white student body by running successfully for sophomore class president, becoming the first black to do so. He also joined groups, such as the Black Student Union and a black fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma, both of which involved him in volunteer.
He became a vice president of Prudential Bache Financial in 1988-2005.
David Driver was also a founding member of the Black Book Publishers Association and the founder of the Black Literary Society.