David H. Sachs Named To Direct Baltimore Leadership Program

BALTIMORE, June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- David H. Sachs, a leadership development innovator, manager, teacher and consultant, has been named the new executive director of The Leadership, the highly-regarded program of the Greater Baltimore Committee for future business, civic and government leaders, the Leadership's board announced today.

Sachs will succeed Jan Houbolt, who is retiring this fall after 25 years at the helm of the year-long program for emerging leaders in the private, public and non-profit sectors that cultivates a deeper awareness of the region's strengths and challenges and develops leadership capacities to accelerate change.

Sachs has worked in leadership development for 15 years with individuals and organizations across industries, geographies and cultures.   Currently, Sachs provides strategic consulting and leadership development, design and facilitation to private, public, and non-profit organizations, including Johns Hopkins University.

He also teaches in Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation's blended executive development programs and the Maryland Institute College of Art's (MICA) Master's program in Social Design.

Sachs will begin working over the summer with The Leadership board and staff to ensure a smooth transition before Houbolt retires in the fall.

Sachs emerged from a year-long search process as the "one leader who brings an extraordinary history of developing and running the highest-level executive leadership programs, teaching leaders, and driving innovation in learning," said The Leadership's Board Chairman Paul Wolman, CEO of Feats, Inc.

"We are remarkably fortunate to find David Sachs at the intersection of his desire to direct an organization and our opportunity to build on the legacy of Jan Houbolt," said Wolman, who praised the board's search committee led by The Leadership Vice Chair Mark Furst, president and CEO of United Way of Central Maryland, and Treasurer Karen Miller, director of finance and chief compliance officer at the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Sachs is "exceptionally qualified to advance The Leadership's tradition of engaging participants in frank and enlightening dialogue and compelling, sometimes once-in-a-lifetime experiences," said Greater Baltimore Committee President & CEO Donald C. Fry.  

"This is the premier program of its kind. It not only educates, but bonds generations of leaders," said Fry, noting that the program has 1,500 alumni of "deeply loyal" executives including many corporate, nonprofit and education CEOs in the region.

"I'm honored to have the opportunity to steward The Leadership into its next phase," Sachs said. "I look forward to building on Jan Houbolt's work to deliver a world-class learning program that enhances the leadership capabilities of participants and their organizations to impact the Baltimore region."

Prior to establishing his independent consultancy in 2011, Sachs was vice president and head of corporate learning and development at T. Rowe Price.

Previously he led Harvard Business School's Executive Education as executive director and co-led the launch of The Erickson School at UMBC as the school's first vice-dean.

Sachs earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard Kennedy School, and a BA in History from Amherst College.  

In 2005, he returned to his hometown of Baltimore with his wife and their two sons.

SOURCE Greater Baltimore Committee