David Timothy Wallace (born November 8, 1962) is a character in the NBC sitcom The Office. He is played by Andy Buckley.
David is introduced in season two, and is the CFO of Dunder Mifflin. He is a wealthy businessman, and despite his differing lifestyle from the employees of the Scranton branch, David tolerates and understands Michael Scott's eccentric behavior, and appreciates the work of salesman Jim Halpert and Human Resources representative Toby Flenderson. Following Sabre's purchase of Dunder Mifflin, David leaves the company. He later sells his patent for "Suck it" to the US military and purchases Dunder Mifflin and becomes CEO in the season eight finale.
Biography[]
David lives in an opulent home in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife Rachel, and son Teddy. He also has a daughter who is said to be in elementary school.
In his spare time, David enjoys basketball.
Seasons 2 - 3[]
David is introduced in "Valentine's Day" during a meeting to discuss the financial standings of the branches as the new CFO- the previous one had resigned due to allegations of sexual harassment from his secretary (as outlined in the episode Sexual Harassment). Craig, Regional Manager at the Albany branch, exposes the fact that Michael and Jan Levinson, Vice President of Sales, were previously intimate after failing to meet expectations. This prompts Michael to formally apologize and explain the boundaries of his relationship with Jan as purely professional.
In the third season episode "Cocktails", David hosts a cocktail party that Jan and Michael attend, which David later leaves to play basketball outside with employee Jim Halpert. He later interviews Michael for a corporate position in the episode "Beach Games." However, it is revealed in "The Job" that the interview is to appoint someone to replace Jan, who discovers this fact and angrily confronts Wallace. Security escorts Jan out of the building, interrupting Michael's failing interview, allowing Michael to save face and explain that he will be rescinding his vie for the position out of respect for Jan, who he is romantically involved with. He instead appoints Ryan Howard, who has an MBA, to the position instead.
Seasons 4 - 5[]
In the fourth season episode "The Deposition", a deposition is held when Jan sues Dunder Mifflin for firing her under wrongful termination. David's testimony reveals that Michael is appreciated but was not a serious contender for Jan's replacement. This hurts but mollifies Michael, and prompts him to side with Dunder Mifflin in the lawsuit. David sincerely apologizes to Michael following the end of the deposition.
In the fifth season episode "Crime Aid", David discovers the relationship between Michael and Scranton's new HR representative Holly Flax and transfers her back to New Hampshire. To appease Michael following his loss, he sends Michael on a business trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba, but just as the trip ends Michael scolds David for sending her away anyway. He later meets Michael to evaluate the success of the Scranton branch and how it can be applied to the rest of Dunder Mifflin during the 2008 economic crisis, only for Michael's personality to render him unable to provide anything of use. However, he enlists Michael in scouting out a Dunder Mifflin competitor called Prince Family Paper, to which Michael and Dwight discreetly carry out, acquiring information on their clients, finances, and more. In "Golden Ticket", Michael uses the golden ticket concept from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to discount random clients 10% on their paper, only for all of them to end up with Blue Cross, one of their major clients. This discount creates a major financial hit for the branch, angering David, who comes down to the branch. However, David is informed that Blue Cross is going exclusively with the company, and compliments Dwight, who Michael has assigned to take the fall for the promotion.
Since Ryan's dismissal in the fourth season finale, David has hired Charles Miner to replace him in "New Boss". However, Charles has a stricter management style that angers Michael into calling David. Ultimately Michael travels to New York to confront David with the fact that his years of service and loyalty to the company supersedes the treatment David and Charles have been giving him, but David's appeasements to Michael do not satisfy him and he resigns. Michael then founds the Michael Scott Paper Company, and begins to take clients from Dunder Mifflin, which drives David and Charles to try to buy out the company. David initially offers twelve thousand, then sixty, before he concedes to Michael, who wants to be rehired alongside Pam and Ryan with benefits. David and Charles are later seen at a company picnic, David expressing anger when Michael accidentally discloses the closing of the Buffalo branch as part of their sketch comedy show.
Seasons 6 - 9[]
In the sixth season episode "The Meeting", David meets with Jim, who is interested in advancing in position at the company. Michael's over-protectiveness of the status quo in Scranton leads David to not consider Jim to take over the branch, but instead share the managerial position with Michael. Michael handles "big-picture" decisions, while Jim "day-to-day", which comes to a head when the decision over how raises will be dispersed among the employees in "The Promotion".
David later informs the company that bankruptcy rumors highlighted in the Wall Street Journal are "conjecture", but privately informs Jim of the impending insolvency of the company in 'Murder." He handles an Employee of the Month issue at the Scranton branch following Dwight's sabotage of the program in "Scott's Tots", initially enraged at Jim but realizing he is merely venting because of the company's precarious situation. The financial situation of Dunder Mifflin is resolved in "Secret Santa" when David calls Michael and announces that the company has a potential buyer, even though he himself would be let go. This buyer is revealed in the episode "Sabre", the titular episode of the company who has acquired Dunder Mifflin. David is shown to be an unfocused reduction of his formerly employed self when Michael meets him to discuss Michael's displeasure of Sabre's policies. Instead of searching for work, David labors on a device to pick up children's clutter called Suck It. Michael is clearly disturbed by David's new lifestyle and leaves.
In "Whistleblower", David, one of the five whistleblowers in the story, reveals to the documentary crew that he helped spread the story of the Sabre printer fires after several old clients complained to him. He is shown wearing a "Suck It" hooded sweatshirt; when he tries to do his spiel for Suck It, the documentary crew abruptly cuts him off mid-sentence. In the seventh season, Michael leaves Dunder Mifflin and, in a deleted scene, engages in a webcam conversation with David to say goodbye. When Michael informs him he is leaving for Colorado to be with Holly, David initially assumes Michael was fired, as David had been, and that Michael was simply making a face-saving statement. When Michael insists this is the truth, David expresses shock that Michael would willingly leave a job in the current economic climate. David's remarks make Michael uncomfortable, and he cuts off the conversation.
In the eighth season, Andy Bernard becomes Scranton's new regional manager and later that season is fired from Dunder Mifflin. David tells Andy that he sold his invention "Suck it" for $20 million to the US Military, and Andy convinces him to buy out Dunder Mifflin. David becomes the CEO of Dunder Mifflin and reinstates Andy as Scranton's regional manager.
In season nine, David continues to do his duties as CEO of Dunder Mifflin and puts Dwight in the position of Regional Manger of the Scranton Branch after Andy quits to pursue fame via his acting/singing/dancing career. In the episode Finale he appears alongside with many of the other Scranton employees for a last round of interviews where he expresses his dislike of the documentary in general.