David is co-author with Charles J. Palus of The Leader’s Edge: Six Creative Competencies for Navigating Complex Challenges. David is a senior faculty member, program designer, and project manager at the Center for Creative Leadership, in the practice area of Leadership for Complex Challenges. He joined the Center in 1990. David led the development of Leading Creatively, a five-day program which bridges between the world of art and the world of business. It features a series of art-making experiences targeted at developing creative leadership. David is an accomplished trainer in a range of custom and open-enrollment programs, including the Leadership Development Program (LDP)^®. His fluency with both the technical and administrative aspects of business combined with his creative and artistic flair makes him sought after worldwide as unique keynote speaker and presenter at both business and creativity-oriented conferences.

An active member of the international community of creativity practitioners, David presents at major, executive events and international conferences, including Creativity and Innovation Conferences. He led the design of the Creative Education Foundation’s Global Odyssey project targeted at international teenagers. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and a colleague of the Creative Education Foundation. He is Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for Entrepreneurship, University of Greenwich in London, UK. David has numerous publications in the leadership and creativity field. He is co-author of a CCL^® product used to support group sense-making called Visual Explorer: Picturing Approaches to Complex Challenges.

David’s background experience includes 21 years in the computer industry; he began as a research and development engineer and emerged as a strategist specializing in creativity and innovation. During this time, he managed both hardware and software development teams and major technology programs and served as marketing manager and trainer of quality improvement and innovation. He joined the Center from the human resources division of the Centre for Consultancy in England.

David describes himself as an artist-in-training. He enjoys drawing and writing poetry, and his special gift is music. He plays a variety of instruments ranging from African drums to piano, and folk guitar to didgeridoo, a native Australian aboriginal instrument. He holds a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Surrey in England.