Making Up for Lost Time
After a long career in finance, David Muller, MBA ’84, is filling his retirement with passions he’d put to the side.
- By
- February 12, 2026
- Media, Entertainment, and Sports
David Muller, MBA ’84, has some advice for people preparing to retire: Hit the ground running. He certainly has.
Muller retired in January 2025 after a 40-year career as a portfolio manager for firms such as J.P. Morgan, Ashmore Investment Management, and the Rohatyn Group.
“When I got out of college in the 1980s, no one told me to follow my passion. I did the responsible thing,” he says of his long career in finance.
As if to make up for lost time, he’s busier than ever as an actor, occasional substitute teacher, tour manager, community band member, and nonprofit board member.
Muller regards his Booth MBA as “a huge foundation on which to build a business career.” Enrolling at the school “was an immersion in something that was pretty foreign to me,” he says. It also landed him his first job, at J.P. Morgan, where he worked for 19 years in Hong Kong, London, New York, and Zurich.
Even as a portfolio manager, Muller gravitated to what he calls public-facing activities such as board presentations, after-dinner talks, and learning sessions.
“I certainly did not lose out,” he says. “But I still wonder if I should have gone into the entertainment business. I love getting up in front of an audience and performing. It’s something that comes naturally to me. And now I can do it on my own time and without having to worry about earning a living.”
In the past couple of years, Muller, who is based in Connecticut, has acted in commercials as well as in several student and feature films. During the 2025 holiday season, he had a supporting role in a community production of A Christmas Carol.
“I still wonder if I should have gone into the entertainment business. I love getting up in front of an audience and performing.”
— David Muller
“I’m of an age and have a look that’s right for certain roles,” he says. “I don’t kid myself that I’m being hired for my acting abilities. But I can play grandfathers and rabbis and college professors. Plus, I enjoy the community that is a part of these productions.”
Muller has also become a certified tour manager through the International Guide Association. He’s already led two tours—for high school students covering New York and Washington, DC—and has about a dozen tours scheduled for 2026.
“It’s all about logistics,” he says of the role. “You’re basically in charge of everything—transportation, accommodations, meals, sights, and breaks. The New York trip was 52 kids from a farming community in Wisconsin, almost none of whom had ever been to a big city like New York. The fun part is I get to experience through their eyes the things I take for granted—Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall and the 9/11 Memorial.”
Music has played a major role in Muller’s life, starting in fourth grade when he began playing the alto saxophone. He now plays bassoon in a community band and also sits on the board of Equity Arc, a Chicago-based nonprofit whose mission is to provide instruments and other support for classical musicians from underrepresented communities.
Muller joined the board last spring after being dismayed by a March 2025 60 Minutes story about how federal funding cuts for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs led to the cancellation of a joint concert by Equity Arc’s Pathways Orchestra and the US Marine Corps Band.
“I found myself feeling helpless and powerless with the way things are going in this country, and I wanted to do something,” he says.