David M. Warren

David M. “Dink” Warren received both his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, majoring in psychology in 1981, and his Juris Doctor degree in 1984 from Wake Forest University. He began his legal career by serving as a law clerk to the late Honorable Thomas M. Moore, United States Bankruptcy Judge.

In 2014, Former Knight Commander Warren was appointed as a Federal Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Today, he serves as the Chief Judge for the District. Prior to his appointment, Judge Warren was a partner in the Raleigh and Rocky Mount, North Carolina offices of Poyner Spruill LLP, where he specialized in business and consumer bankruptcy law primarily representing creditors.

Since his initiation into Tau Chapter at Wake Forest in 1978, nearly 50 years ago, Judge Warren has been committed to serving the Order. While a member of the Tau Chapter, he was rush chairman, social chairman, and Number III. He attended his first National Leadership Institute in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1979 and was the alumnus advisor to the Tau Chapter from 1981 to 1986. As a younger alumnus, he founded three alumni chapters of KA, serving as president of two. In 1986, he was appointed Ed Chambers Smith Province Commander by Knight Commander Idris R. Traylor. Scott W. Warren (Upsilon–North Carolina 1980), Former Knight Commander Warren’s younger brother, and former National Undergraduate Chairman, succeeded him as Smith Province Commander in 1991. From 1993 to 1995 he served as Deputy Chief Alumnus. In August 1995, the Convention elected Judge Warren to the Executive Council. In 1997, he was named Senior Councilor. In 2001, the Convention elected him as the Order’s 36th Knight Commander. Former Knight Commander Warren’s four major goals as Knight Commander were 1) to return the Order to a more direct and substantial role in the financing and acquisition of fraternity housing; 2) to improve each individual chapter’s academic standards by requiring a minimum GPA and establishing a chapter academic officer; 3) to reduce claims against the Order by strictly overseeing factors related to risk management, including hazing; and 4) to bring about an organizational audit to improve the quality and delivery of services to active chapters and to streamline the administrative duties of the Order’s staff and volunteers.

Former Knight Commander Warren also encouraged the Order to increase efforts in fund-raising activities and philanthropic ventures. In particular and as inspired by his mother, he created Operation Crimson Gift, a competition to donate blood by active members and alumni to the Red Cross during the month of March. Judge Warren has given gallons of blood since the inception of Operation Crimson Gift.

One of his unintended accomplishments was bridging a gap between the Order and the Foundation and alleviating operational and policy inconsistencies between those two affiliates. KA and KAOEF have since operated with unified cooperation and goals. He also was a member of the search committee that facilitated the hiring of Larry Stanton Wiese as Executive Director in 1996. In the spring of 2014, after serving seven terms on the membership committee (and six as chairman), Judge Warren was elected to the Board of Directors of the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), which is an international trade association representing national and international fraternities—to which we previously belonged. He was instrumental in effecting a drastic reformation of that organization. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of FRMT Ltd., our captive reinsurance company, for more than 10 years, and has been the KA member delegate to that company since 1996.

Former Knight Commander Warren has served as President of the Fraternity Housing Corporation, Trustee of the Kappa Alpha Order Educational Foundation, and Chairman of the Scholarship Committee for the KAOEF. He is now the Vice Chairman for the KAOEF. Judge Warren is a master of the Kappa Alpha Laws. He was the chairman of the then-Laws Committee that modernized the Constitution and Bylaws in 1993—the structure of which remains today. A member of several Courts of Honor, he is a recipient of the Knight Commander’s Accolade, a longtime Crimson & Gold Society member and a recipient of the Order’s Accolade for Interfraternal Service.

Judge Warren lives in Raleigh with his wife Keena. They have two children, a daughter Ashley, who is a proud alumna of Kappa Delta from Wake Forest, and a son McLean, an initiate from Epsilon Mu at Elon University and a former E. Fleming Mason Memorial Intern in Washington, D.C.