Dave

Dave is an experienced technology executive, consumer marketer, consultant, educator, and social entrepreneur, with a strong interest in values-based innovation. Dave’s  fascination with innovation led him to explore why innovative technology creates breakthroughs in some cases and for some companies, and in other cases does not. The results of this exploration, and of his work in both the classroom and the business world are captured in his first book Hunter or Hunted:Technology, Innovation, and Competitive Strategy.

As part of the Institute for Business Innovation at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Dave is currently leading efforts to develop a graduate level applied innovation/experiential learning course, and developing partnerships that allow prominent international firms with pressing business challenges to work with the school’s students and faculty to drive specific innovation projects and initiatives. The goal is help these firms enhance their competitiveness, while preparing the next generation of Berkeley grads to drive change (responsibly.)  Before moving to Haas, Dave designed and taught the e-business and technology strategy course for the Executive MBA Program at St. Mary’s College, where he is still a part-time faculty member.

Dave is also applying his operating and innovation experience as CEO of ClimatePath, a social venture he founded with the goals of using carbon finance market mechanisms to fight climate change and encourage sustainable development. He developed the idea for ClimatePath while COO of the NGO TransFairUSA (now Fair Trade USA), a 4 time winner of Fast Company/Monitor’s social capital award, and a leader in developing market based solutions to ending global poverty.

Dave has over 20 years of general management, marketing, and business development experience including 10 years in consumer, food,  and information products, and another 10 spent focusing on Internet and other technology related businesses. For the last several years, his focus has been on corporate social responsibility, sustainability,  and ethical globalization. He has been a frequent speaker on e-business,  and sustainable business panels, and has been a quoted in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, and The Industry Standard. He has also developed and conducted advanced marketing and e-commerce courses in Europe and the Middle-East.

Dave earned his MBA at the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern, and his B.S. from the Haas School at U.C. Berkeley. When consulting, his client work focuses on strategy, innovation, business model revision,  socially responsible business/supply chain design, and marketing consulting/execution, typically at the  senior executive level. His consulting has also included designing more effective web related strategies, re-tooling product roadmaps, finding new sources of revenue, conducting due diligence on acquisition targets.

Dave has held key executive VP and C-level positions with several fast growing internet pioneers, including helping to build, grow, and eventually sell businesses to Hollywood Video and Earthlink, and helping to place companies on both the Deloitte 50 and INC 500 lists. He also has turned around smaller software and e-commerce firms where profitability took precedence over growth. Before moving into the internet space, Dave was focused primarily on brand management and consumer products. He has been in brand management at Del Monte Foods, was a management consultant in Deloitte Consulting’s food and retail practice, and directed business development activities for a leading developer of bio-engineered fruits and vegetables. He spent the first five years of his career at A C Nielsen, focused primarily on helping to build a group developing worldwide information and data delivery products to assist global packaged goods clients in monitoring global brand performance.

Finally, Dave is also a board member and chair of the marketing committee at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, a beloved regional  wildlife educational and rehabilitation center that connects people with wildlife, and promotes co-existence between nature and community.