David Surrenda, Ph.D. is a unique combination of clinical and organizational psychologist, senior business executive, paradigm innovator, executive coach and family wisdom counselor. He brings together a mix of clinical, operational and cognitive skills and expertise to assist executives, families and organizations to successfully manifest their purpose and their power. He has a combination of deep business experience and deep knowledge of personal growth, career management and human life cycle development.
Dr. Surrenda developed The Leadership Edge to assist leaders to manage the process of organizational change and to insure that change efforts really succeed. He has conducted executive level organizational consultation with business, government, education and health systems for 30 years. His creative change strategies generate sustainable solutions for the complex challenges facing organizations in times of turbulence.
Dr. Surrenda has consulted in over 200 national and international organizations in industries including high technology, health, hospitality, consulting, manufacturing, food and venture capital. Representative clients included Agriliance, Apple Computer, Adaptec, Applied Materials, Applied Aerospace Structures, Bio-Rad, British Petroleum, Bain & Co, Caesar’s, Catalytica, Dignity Health, GlaxoSmithKline, Google, Hyatt, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, International Business Systems, John Wiley, Kaiser Permanente, Long Beach Memorial Hospital, Memorial Health Systems, Merrill Lynch, MPTV Fund, Price Waterhouse, The Produce Exchange, Puma, Regis McKenna, Sunkist, Sunsoft, Sun Microsystems, Sprint PCS, Tandem, VLSI, Walden International and the California State Bar.
Dr. Surrenda’s innovatively designed seminars have been presented on 4 continents and have inspired thousands of men and women towards a new experience of organizational and leadership effectiveness. His book on leadership development, Retooling on the Run: Real Change for Leaders with No Time, (co-authored with Dr. Stuart Heller) is a unique roadmap for cultivating versatility of leadership action styles while continuing to manage the ongoing challenges of daily work. He is the co-author of four books – his most recent being Safe in The Arms of Love: Deepening the Essential Bond with your Baby (with Lisa Rafel & Gary Malkin).
As the co-CEO of a training and research corporation, Dr. Surrenda developed nationally recognized innovations in conflict resolution and crisis intervention utilizing train-the-trainer strategies and state-of-the-art learning methodologies. His work (with Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz) was acknowledged by the Justice Department as the standard for training in the area of crisis management. He has co-authored books (with Jeffrey Schwartz) on conflict resolution as well as numerous professional articles.
Dr. Surrenda also served as the Executive Director of The Natural Step, an environmental organization that provides consultation to major industries about the efficient utilization of natural resources as part of a coherent strategy for long-term business development.
He worked for 2 years as a Chairman for a Los Angeles based T. E. C. (The Executive Committee) group of CEO’s whose purpose it is to provide training, support, and consultation to each other in the management of their respective companies.
Dr. Surrenda was the founder, Dean and curriculum director for the Graduate School of Holistic Studies at John F. Kennedy for nine years. He developed 9 separate graduate programs as well as spearheaded the development and management of both research and counseling centers. At JFKU, he crafted the first nationally accredited graduate program in Holistic Health Education, a forerunner to the current efforts in Integrative Health. He supervised 31 faculty and 600 graduate students. He was appointed to teach within four separate university departments: Management, Psychology, Liberal Arts, and Holistic Studies. He has taught in ten colleges.
Dr. Surrenda spent 2 years as the CEO of the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, the largest retreat center in the US. He led the development of innovative blended learning programs, extending beyond the walls of the retreat center to a global constituency.
He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation. This foundation is committed to the radical improvement of the American health system through integrative thinking, seeding innovation and convening key influencers to dialogue and consider how to drive sustainable system change.
He works with families and couples to positively manage the complexity of family dynamics. He assists those with a family business by tailoring his efforts to the needs of the clients, enabling them to establish healthy relationships among family members while conducting their family enterprises. He assists high net worth families with family meetings, especially when complex or conflicted issues have arisen.
As a conference leader, he has designed and directed 9 major professional conferences. These cutting edge conferences brought professionals into dialogue with the lay public about current social and industrial changes. Dr. Surrenda is also an accomplished public speaker.