If you search for the name David von der Leyen, you'll usually find two types of results. One group sees him as just another face in a high-profile political family tree. The other group looks at his CV and sees a fast-tracked career in global tech and consulting.
But who is he, actually?
Honestly, it’s easy to get lost in the noise when your mother is Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. Most people assume he's following a political path, but the reality is a lot more corporate. He’s spent most of his adult life navigating the worlds of Big Tech and high-stakes management consulting.
The Family Name and the "McKinsey Connection"
David von der Leyen was born in 1987. He is the eldest of seven siblings. Growing up in a household where politics and medicine were the primary languages—his father Heiko is a physician and his mother is, well, the Ursula—you might expect a career in the public sector.
That didn't happen.
Instead, David took a hard pivot into economics. He studied at the University of Göttingen, where he wasn't just a student. He was an elected member of the faculty council. He was a teaching assistant. He was basically doing the "high-achiever" thing long before he hit the international stage.
But here’s where things get interesting for the critics. After his initial studies, David landed a role as an Associate at McKinsey & Company.
If you've followed European politics, you know that McKinsey is a sensitive topic for the von der Leyen family. During Ursula's time as the German Defense Minister, the "consultancy affair" (Berateraffäre) made major headlines. Millions of euros were spent on external consultants, specifically McKinsey.
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To be clear: David worked for the firm, but there has never been any proven legal link between his employment and his mother's political decisions. Still, in the court of public opinion, the optics were... tricky.
Moving to California and the Silicon Valley Shift
By 2014, David decided to leave Germany behind for a bit. He headed to the US to get his MBA at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
Berkeley is a vibe. It's the opposite of the stiff, traditional power structures of Brussels or Berlin. While there, he didn't just sit in lecture halls. He co-founded a startup called Croking. It was a mobile gaming company. It didn't become the next Facebook, but it showed where his head was at: tech and gaming.
It’s a bit of a curveball, right? The son of Europe’s most powerful woman spending his nights worrying about mobile game retention rates and user acquisition.
Life After the MBA
After Berkeley, his career took a sharp turn toward the "New Economy."
- Kolibri Games: He spent a significant chunk of time here as a Senior Product Manager.
- Google: Currently, he serves as a Games Growth Consultant.
He’s basically a specialist in how to make mobile games scale. He isn't drafting policy or debating trade deals. He’s looking at data. He’s analyzing why people click on certain buttons in a game and how to make those games more profitable.
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Why David von der Leyen Still Matters in 2026
You might wonder why a private citizen's career is even worth talking about. It’s about the intersection of power and privacy. David has largely stayed out of the spotlight. He doesn't do "tell-all" interviews. He doesn't post his life on TikTok.
This privacy creates a vacuum.
When a family member of a top politician works for a company like Google or McKinsey, people naturally ask about influence. In the tech-heavy landscape of 2026, where the EU is constantly regulating Big Tech (hello, Digital Markets Act), having the son of the Commission President working for Google is... a conversation starter.
However, looking at his trajectory, it seems David has prioritized a very specific niche: the gaming industry. It’s a sector that is huge, lucrative, and—crucially—slightly removed from the direct fireline of the most intense EU-US political battles.
Navigating the "Nepo Baby" Label
Is he a "nepo baby"?
In the strictest sense, coming from a family with centuries of history (the von der Leyen family were silk merchants who were ennobled in the 1700s) gives you a head start. You get the best schools. You get the best network.
But you still have to pass the McKinsey interviews. You still have to get into Haas. You still have to deliver results at Google.
The nuanced view is that David von der Leyen has used his background as a springboard, but he’s landed in a pool—tech growth—that is largely merit-based and data-driven. He’s not a politician. He’s a tech professional who happens to have a very famous last name.
What to take away from this
If you're looking into David's career for your own professional growth or just out of curiosity, there are a few practical things to notice about how he built his path:
- The Pivot is Powerful: Moving from traditional economics to tech gaming shows that you don't have to stay in the lane your parents built for you.
- Education as a Reset: Using an MBA at a top-tier US school (Berkeley) allowed him to transition from the "European consulting" world to the "Silicon Valley" world effectively.
- Low Profile = High Success: In an era where everyone wants to be an influencer, David proves you can hold high-level roles at the world's biggest companies by staying focused on the work rather than the fame.
Ultimately, David von der Leyen is a case study in how the next generation of political dynasties is moving away from the ballot box and toward the boardroom. Whether you agree with the optics or not, his career is a masterclass in navigating high-pressure environments while maintaining a strictly private personal brand.
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If you are researching his professional background for networking or industry insights, your best bet is to look at his contributions to the mobile gaming ecosystem and product management strategies within the "Growth" framework. That is where his actual influence lies today.