In Memoriam
Our cherished colleague and friend, David was a co-founder of the Institute for Contemporary Leadership. His contributions to the field of leadership development are vast and lasting. As Director of Google’s Center of Expertise on Leadership Development for over ten years, David was responsible for innovative, high-impact approaches to develop Google leaders to meet emerging challenges. In addition, he coached senior leaders, lead strategy for Google’s executive coaching programs, and supported other leadership and organization development initiatives, including leading a team on agile organization design for Google’s future needs.
Before joining Google in 2011, David served as leader of world-wide coaching services for PDI Ninth House (now Korn Ferry). In addition to coaching top leaders at Salesforce, Sandisk, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Target, Wal-Mart, Shell, Genentech, American Express, Mayo Clinic, Harvard, and Stanford University, he provided consultation and thought leadership on how to design and manage organizational coaching programs, how to develop high potential leaders and critical talent, and how to accelerate learning and leadership development at all levels.
David published dozens of articles and chapters on coaching, was co-author of Development FIRST: Strategies for Self-Development and Leader as Coach, with over a million copies in print, and co-editor of the Handbook of the Psychology of Coaching and Mentoring. He earned his PhD in Counseling and Industrial/Organizational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. He was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Consulting Psychology, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), and the Harvard Institute of Coaching. His awards include the RHR International Award for Excellence in Consultation (Society of Consulting Psychology), the Outstanding Achievement Award (California Psychological Association), and the Vision of Excellence Award (Harvard Institute of Coaching). Vikki Brock’s history of coaching (2008, 2012) named David as one of the primary influencers in the field, both for his early influence on the emergence of executive coaching and for shaping the field “on the cutting edge of the profession, doing and saying surprising and thought-provoking things.”
David’s memory will be a blessing to all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
