Bio

David Ackert is the President of The Ackert Advisory. He has served in the legal, corporate, finance, and accounting sectors as an Executive Coach, Trainer, Marketer, and Strategic Planner since the late ’90s. He has been consultant and advisor to over 200 CEOs, executives, and service firm partners, hailing from both local and global companies and firms. He has developed and implemented business development programs for national legal, accounting, and financial service firms. He is the founder of the Business Development Symposium for lawyers featuring industry thought-leaders Bill Flannery and Larry Bodine, and is the founder of Practice Boomers, a distance learning program that teaches business development to lawyers and other service professionals.

David has written for and contributed to over a dozen articles in publications including the LA Times, The National Review, and the Daily Journal, and been quoted in several trade publications and business books. He has participated on numerous panels and lectured in seminars on effective communication, business development, and time management techniques. He is a frequent speaker at law firms and trade conferences. He is a guest lecturer at USC’s Marshall School of Business, and an instructor at UCLA Extension’s Entertainment Studies and its Business, Management and Legal divisions.

He is the founder of the Growth Group and the leader of the Westwood Group, both chapters of ProVisors, which cater to Los Angeles business professionals. David is also the founding member of the Advisory Board for California Executives. He is a recipient of his local Business Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40 Leadership Award.”

David’s avocational interests include fiction writing, filmmaking, and theater. He has published two short stories in literary magazines and several anthologies. He has produced two documentary films, and as an actor, he has performed on stage, screen, and numerous television shows such as Bones, CSI:Miami, NYPD Blue, Six Feet Under, and The West Wing.

He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Voices in Harmony, a non-profit arts/mentoring organization he co-founded in 1995 that provides extra-curricular and classroom programs for at-risk teens around the world. He was one of the nine people awarded as a “Difference Maker” from Ithaca College in its recognition of alumni who have made a meaningful impact through community service initiatives. He earned his BA from Ithaca College and Carnegie Mellon University, he holds a Masters in Psychology from USM, and a Business Coaching Certification from SBS.