David Harper is Managing Principal of The Advisory Alliance. He established The Advisory Alliance after spending more than 20 years consulting to the Fortune 50, 100 and 500, as well as leading and growing entrepreneurial organizations.

A skilled business executive with a proven record in both domestic and international markets, he has extensive consulting and leadership experience, with expertise in business and operations management, as well as leadership development and organizational change.

David has personally worked with clients on a variety of issues, including:

- Design and delivery of the flagship 4-day Leadership Development program for all District Managers of a #1 category U.S. national retailer (1,100+ stores; 22,000 employees) to foster better strategic thinking, improved customer service and experience, and increased in-store sales.

- Turnaround change management for 26,000 employees of a Fortune 500 US financial services corporation, developing a customer-focused culture in a climate that had undergone extensive rationalization.

- Research, analysis, and development of the essential leadership criteria for the selection of the CEO & President of a leading regional economic development authority.

- Leading the creation of the first Executive Leadership Development program for 3,000 senior leadersof a Fortune 50 global investment bank, bringing together select high potential executives to engage and develop them as the firm’s leaders of the 21st century.

- Research and analysis of the key factors of loyalty-driven sales to support a Fortune 100 global food and beverage firm’s bid to secure a 10-year supply contract with a leading quick service franchise (16,000+ outlets nationwide).

- The creation of a learning architecture to support the common knowledge, language, and skill set for 400+ Customer Management Professionals of 3 recently merged sales organizations of the US division of a global consumer products corporation.

- Research, analysis, contributing author, and speaker for The Conference Board report and webcast presentation on the changing role of today’s Chief Operations Officer.

Prior to establishing The Advisory Alliance, David served as Senior Vice President with Partners International, a privately held management consulting firm in Manhattan, serving the Fortune 500. Before being recruited to Partners, he led teams of consultants and independent specialists for multi-stream consulting engagements with The Forum Corporation, a global leader in leadership and management development serving the Fortune 500.

Born in Montreal, Canada, David spent the first part of his career in private business, as COO for an international wholesaling and distribution corporation, serving a diversified international client base, including retailers such as Wal-Mart.

David has presented to various organizations including the American Association of Airport Executives, The Florida Retail Federation, ADP, and others. He has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, SuccessFactors’ Factors of Success, The South Magazine, and CBS TV affiliate WTOC. He is also contributing author to The Conference Board’s in-depth research report, The Changing Role of the COO, and authors The Advisory Alliance’s monthly 60-Second Email™.

David is an SPHR™ certified member of the Society for Human Resource Management, a certified consultant and facilitator from the Positive Deviance Initiative of Tufts University, a certified facilitator and administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI^®), the Student Leadership Challenge, the Student Leadership Practices Inventory, the Leadership Versatility Index^®, the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), and the Hogan Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI).

He is a Beta Gamma Sigma Medal recipient and graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Business (MBA, Finance and Management), and holds a Bachelors of Business Administration as well as a BA in Psychology from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.