Since founding the Leadership Difference in 1995, over 400,000 people have attended Dave’s “enter- TRAIN-ment” seminars on topics that include leadership, customer service, selling skills, and personal performance enhancement. His clients include Allstate Insurance, Bank of America, Universal Studios, Hilton Worldwide, Sub-Zero Wolf Appliances, Electrolux Appliances, Trek Bikes, Walt Disney World and the CIA. In July 2013, Meeting Professionals International selected Dave as the Meeting Madness winner for Best Speaker of the Year. In September 2015, Meetings and Conventions Magazine named Dave one of the Best Speakers of the Year.
He has a B.A. in Mass-Communications with an emphasis in Business Administration and M.Ed. in Global Human Resources Development. Dave spent 12 years as a corporate executive in human resources management, has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois and Walla Walla University, regular guest lecturer at Whitman College, is the chairman of the business advisory board for Walla Walla Community College and is designated as a Certified Advanced Wine Sommelier by the International Wine Guild. He is also a founding shareholder of Pambrun Wines. Having failed to achieve his dream of playing professional baseball, he went on to a successful coaching career at the tee ball level.
Dave is the author of four books. Live and Learn or Die Stupid! focuses on personal contentment and performance excellence. His second book, The Power of Understanding People, was released in December 2013 and was immediately named Best Business Book of the Month by Amazon. Dave’s third book, The Power of Understanding Yourself, was released on January 7, 2019 and was an Editor’s Pick by getAbstract and named Top Read by Training Magazine. His fourth book, Peak Performance Culture: The Five Metrics of Organizational Excellence, was released in September 2020.
Dave lives in the Walla Walla Valley wine country with his wife of 35 years, Lori; has two adult children, Brooklyn and Slade; three horses and Mingus the Dog.
- Primary/Complementary Interactive Styles: Romantic/Warrior
- Interactive Combination: The Crusader
- In a film, he’d be played by: Gerard Butler
- Common Leadership Characteristic: Provides a mix of praise and carefully worded criticism
