DAVE GALOWICH
David’s success in business has been attributed to his ability to lead people toward the achievement of a common goal. David is currently the Founder and CEO of Terra Firma Leadership LLC where he pursues his passion of being a catalyst in the professional and personal development of the people he interacts with. David is a Georgetown University trained Leadership Coach who previously had been the driving force behind the success of numerous business ventures for several decades.
David is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by the International Coaching Federation and is certified in several assessment tools, including The Leadership Circle Profile, the Hogan Personality Inventory and related products. David also serves as a contributor on Leadership Coaching for Forbes.com.
As a Vistage Chair, David facilitates monthly CEO Peer Advisory Group meetings and individually coach’s CEO members to become better leaders, make better decisions and achieve better results. The power of Vistage is in its design. Vistage groups contain no more than 18 Chief Executives (no more than one per industry) who obtain unbiased confidential advice from their peers. Each member of the group acts as a private advisor and part of the collective brain trust for every other member. On average, companies whose Chief Executives are members grow three times as fast as their competitors.
As President of Madison Realty Group, Inc., David had primary responsibility for all company operations including evaluation, acquisition, development, construction financing, management and disposition of real estate assets. After joining Madison in 1993, the projects Dave worked on yielded development rights for approximately 4,500 dwelling units and the construction of over 1,000,000 square feet of retail development. During his tenure at Madison Dave led the management of a portfolio of assets on behalf of a group of private equity firms that purchased approximately $450 million of non-performing and distressed commercial mortgage loans in 2010.
David has served in a leadership capacity for numerous not for profit organizations including the Urban Land Institute (ULI), serving ULI in many capacities on both a national and local level. Locally this included being Chairman of the Chicago Product Council and a member of the ULI Chicago Executive Committee for 15 years. As a representative of the ULI Chicago District Council, David also sat on (and served as Vice-Chair of) the Land Use Committee for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, which is a state agency that integrates transportation and land use planning for a seven-county region in northeastern Illinois. On a National basis, David served on various ULI Product Council’s for over 20 years.
David is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Illinois State Bar Association. David is an active Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor qualified in everything from gliders and seaplanes to Cessna Citation business jets. David received a Juris Doctor degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law and a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.