About Dave O'Connor

Dave O'Connor is an executive coach based in Market Square, Lake Forest, Illinois. He works with founders, CEOs, owners and senior leaders in person and virtually, including leaders well beyond the Chicago area. He helps capable leaders decide with confidence on personnel, product, partner and positioning decisions.

Dave holds the ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential and earlier held the ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential. He holds a diploma in Systemic Supervision from Beckett-McInroy, which is accredited by EMCC (ESQA), AC and ICF. He has trained with the Co-Active Training Institute, the Harvard Institute of Coaching and The Moment Institute. He holds a BA in Psychology from Saint Michael's College (2006).

Before coaching full time, Dave was President of Move Matcher & Downsizing by Design, a private equity-owned company, from February 2018 to May 2022. During that time the team grew from 4 to 16 people and the company's markets grew from 6 to 12. Earlier roles include National Account Executive at InterviewStream (2016 to 2018), Producer and Brand Strategist at the Chicago Tribune (2014 to 2016), Account Supervisor at Weber Shandwick (2010 to 2014), Regional Field Director on political campaigns in New Hampshire and Massachusetts (2008 to 2010) and Legislative Correspondent in the office of Senator Patrick Leahy.

Dave founded his independent practice in 2022. His clients have included leaders at Kaiser Permanente, Faerch, the Massachusetts Democratic Party, the Chicago Bears, Backpack Pay and Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center.

His working view is that leaders are nodes in living systems and that a leader's one job is to decide and adapt. He works through a method he calls the Readiness Flywheel: reflection, choice, action and information-gathering, repeated until the leader is ready to act.

Dave offers one-to-one coaching in a quarterly cycle of six 60-minute sessions, a single four-hour Decision Day, and a free 30-minute intro call to see whether coaching is a fit. He is the author of Ways of Being: Leadership, Questions & Quotes for the Reflective Leader, available through heycoachdave.com.

Contact: dave@heycoachdave.com · LinkedIn · Google Business Profile