Rev. Dr. David Beckmann

2010 World Food Prize Laureate and Coordinator, Circle of Protection

David Beckmann is one of the foremost U.S. advocates for people struggling with hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.

He is coordinator of the Circle of Protection, an advocacy coalition of diverse church bodies with a combined membership of 100 million people. The Circle works to protect and strengthen poverty-important programs in the massive bills through which Congress now does most of its business. He is also a dean’s advisor at Virginia Theological Seminary, learning and teaching about effective ways to connect faith and spirituality to the politics of poverty.

David served for 29 years as president of Bread for the World, a large faith-based advocacy network in the United States. He was awarded the World Food Prize in 2010 for his leadership in advocacy for programs that have helped hundreds of millions of hungry people. Before he moved to Bread for the World, David was a World Bank economist. He led the Bank’s initial engagement with NGOs and community organizations around the world.

David graduated from Yale College and earned master’s degrees from the Lutheran School of Theology and the London School of Economics. He has been awarded eight honorary doctorates.