David M. Paule

David M. Paule, DM Paule and Dave Paule are all the same person. Yes. We know it's confusing. So is Dave.

He's been around. Over the merry course of his career, he has been an aerospace engineer, software developer, marketer, sommelier, corporate controller, photographer, novelist, cartoonist, deejay, bartender, educator and standup comic. He is seldom classified as focused.

By day, he is an instructor in Georgia State University's J.Mack Robinson School of Business, and a Sr. Consultant at Our Fundraising Search. He's also a writer of novels, business books, plays, video shorts and other miscellaneous important and/or irreverent works.

His works of fiction focus on the journeys of self discovery men go on as they grow up. (Assuming they grow up.) His nonfiction work focuses on business strategy and how CEOs and organizations can position themselves for success and sustainability.

For the bulk of his professional career, he was a turnaround expert, helping challenge for-profit and nonprofit companies achieve better revenue performance, greater market share, lower turnover and more efficient financial operations. This work included roles as the CEO of a Georgia-based healthcare NGO and an environmental law firm, and C-level roles in arts and entertainment organizations.

Prior to that, he spent twenty-five years in the aviation industry, most of it at Delta Air Lines. Delta gave him a wealth of opportunities to work with and lead organizations all around the world. In 2011, when he retired from Delta, he was challenged by his partner. “You’ve proven you can do airlines. You’ve proven you can do corporate. What else ya got?” Thus began his encore career in the world of non-profit.

Simultaneous with all these roles, he has most valued his work as an educator. For most of his career, he has taught managerial sciences at the undergraduate level, first at Mercer University’s Stetson School of Business and Economics, and then at Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business. He has a passion for teaching leadership, because he has seen firsthand the damage poor leadership can do to an organization.

Dave managed to secure a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Business Administration from Georgia State University despite the serious misgivings of each institution’s faculty. In his spare time, he writes. He is the author of two novels, The Monarch of Key West and Highlands-A-Go-Go: Finding Virginia Highland; two plays, The Sisters and (with James Townsend) Voodoo for Dummies: A Musical; and the narrowly acclaimed novella Amidst the Brownstones. His business books include The CEO's Due Diligence Handbook and Fundraising for All: What Every Nonprofit Leader Should Know.

He lives in Atlanta.