David Wick- Executive Director
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David has held the vision and values of personal and societal growth to our highest and best. Wick’s work with young people began in Santa Cruz, CA. In 1974, after counseling troubled youth for three years in the Santa Cruz Juvenile Hall, David was inspired to assist young people, their families and the community to create an alternative path to the Juvenile Justice System. David founded Youth Services in Santa Cruz and Watsonville, with a staff of eight, an eager group of volunteers, and with a budget of only $17,000. It is still going strong today as an essential multi-million dollar organization. Based on the dynamic early years of Youth Services he authored a chapter in the recently published book, “The Origins of Neuro Linguistic Programming.”
In 1983 David helped launch the United Nations NGO, Pathways To Peace (PTP) which had assisted the adoption of the UN’s International Day of Peace in 1981. David has been a leader in organizing the celebration of the International Day of Peace since 1984 and he currently serves as PTP President. While working at Stanford University, in 1985 he founded the ten year-long PTP Peace Within Organizations program and in 1995 co-founded the visionary project Peace Building Through Business which led to being a leading member of a five year international think tank on the future role of business in the 21st Century. David is currently the Team Leader of the global Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI), a UN-designated "Peace Messenger Initiative", of which Pathways To Peace serves as the Secretariat. Building upon his knowledge and experience, David currently serves as the Executive Director of the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC), engaging the Ashland community in new ways of thinking and behavior, and developing a model other cities may benefit from.
In his previous role as Vice President of Southern Oregon China Connection, David has been an essential initiator in developing the growing economic, educational and cultural bridge between Oregon and China and worked closely with Oregon’s legislators and the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. David focuses on leadership development and international relations and in the related position of Adjunct Professor, School of Business, Southern Oregon University he co-taught the Leaders Growth Series. David also works in the Public Diplomacy area through placing foreign exchange students in high schools and with host families in Southern Oregon.
David has over 30 years of executive and management training and organizational development consulting experience, and has held important positions within Sun Microsystems, Stanford University, Levi Strauss and the European Foundation for Management Development (efmd). He has designed extensive international training programs, and has received accolades in both the business and peace building arenas. Building upon his coaching and consulting experience, David has served as Managing Director of Southern Oregon’s Triple Bottom Line for the 21st Century Program (TBL21) with the goal to embed regional business with sustainability practices and leadership.
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He is a member of the Rotary E-Club of World Peace and served as club president during the challenging years of 2021-2022. He serves as an innovative leader weaving together his various peacebuilding experience and the evolution of Rotary International's focus on local-global peacebuilding.
David has created hundreds of talks, articles and interviews on various topics.