Dave Hitz co-founded NetApp, a Silicon Valley data management company, in 1992. He has played many roles there including programmer, evangelist, architect, VP of Engineering, mascot, strategist, cheerleader, and coach. He wrote a book, How to Castrate a Bull, about NetApp's journey from startup to global Fortune 500 company. He also worked at MIPS and Auspex.

Dave's charitable interests range from Mayan archeology to 3D scanning of museum collections and ancient sites to global sustainability. As chairman of Deep Springs College, Dave helped guide the transition to coeducation after 100 years of all-male enrollment. Dave co-founded Play on!, which is translating all of Shakespeare's plays into performable 21st century English. It has been called the single largest literary translation project since the King James Bible (and also "a waste of money and talent"). 

Dave dropped out of high school. He attended George Washington University, Swarthmore College, and Deep Springs College, eventually graduating from Princeton after an eight year undergraduate career, with a BSE in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.