David Acker

David Acker is a leadership coach for executives and teams. At the GSB, he is a Leadership Coach in the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows program and a T-group (experiential interpersonal dynamics group) facilitator in Interpersonal Dynamics.

External to Stanford, David maintains a coaching practice helping executives and teams develop leadership capacity, enhance interpersonal awareness and effectiveness, and navigate complex transition and org-level issues. His clients are primarily venture-backed CEOs and executives, entrepreneurs, private equity firms, and SMB senior leaders. He is also an active startup investor, advisor, and consultant.

Previously, David founded and operated multiple brick-and-mortar businesses, primarily in the fitness industry, with locations across California, Texas, and the Northeast. He has also consulted for education startups and nonprofits on strategy, sales, people ops, and corp dev. David began his career as a consultant at Charles River Associates in its Financial Accounting and Valuation group.

David holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, an MA in education from Stanford Graduate School of Education, and a BA in economics from Colby College. Additionally, he has coaching certifications from the International Coach federation (ACC) and the Co-Active Training Institute (CPCC).