About
Dan Pontefract is a leadership strategist, culture change expert, award-winning author, and recognized keynote speaker. Dan offers a variety of services including organizational culture and leadership assessments, organizational design/redesign, strategic planning, executive consulting as well as team workshops. You might also be interested in Dan Pontefract’s engaging keynotes, too.
The future of work is now.
Bios
One-Line Bio
Dan Pontefract is an award-winning author and leadership strategist who helps organizations and leaders to bloom.
Tiny Bio
Dan Pontefract is a renowned leadership strategist, award-winning author, and keynote speaker with over two decades of experience helping organizations and leaders improve performance, productivity, and overall engagement.
He has presented at four TED events and earned multiple industry awards including Thinkers50 Radar, HR Weekly’s 100 Most Influential People in HR, PeopleHum’s Top 200 Thought Leaders to Follow, and Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers. Dan has written five best-selling books and he also writes for Forbes and Harvard Business Review.
Short Bio
Dan Pontefract is a renowned leadership strategist, author, and keynote speaker with over two decades of experience in senior executive roles at companies such as SAP, TELUS, and Business Objects. Since then, he has worked with organizations worldwide, including Salesforce, Amgen, the State of Tennessee, Nestlé, Canada Post, Autodesk, BMO, the Government of Canada, Manulife, Nutrien, and the City of Toronto, among others.
As an award-winning and best-selling author, Dan has written five books: WORK-LIFE BLOOM, LEAD. CARE. WIN., OPEN TO THINK, THE PURPOSE EFFECT, and FLAT ARMY. Dan also writes for Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and other outlets.
Dan is a renowned keynote speaker who has presented at four TED events and has delivered over 600 keynotes . He is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business and has received over 25 industry, individual, and book awards.
Dan’s career is interwoven with corporate and academic experience, coupled with an MBA, B.Ed, and multiple industry certifications and awards. Notably, Dan is listed on the Thinkers50 Radar, HR Weekly’s 100 Most Influential People in HR, PeopleHum’s Top 200 Thought Leaders to Follow, and Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers.
Loooooong Bio
Dan Pontefract
Leadership Strategist, Culture Change Expert, Author, Speaker
Dan Pontefract is a renowned leadership strategist, author, and keynote speaker with over two decades of experience in senior executive roles at companies such as SAP, TELUS, and Business Objects. In these roles, he focused on corporate culture change, leadership development, employee experience, and overall performance improvement. Since then, he has worked with organizations worldwide, including Salesforce, Amgen, the State of Tennessee, Nestlé, Canada Post, Autodesk, BMO, the Government of Canada, Manulife, Nutrien, and the City of Toronto, among others. Dan has firsthand experience in turning leaders and corporate cultures into a competitive advantage, and he believes that the future of work is now.
As an award-winning and best-selling author, Dan has written five books: WORK-LIFE BLOOM, LEAD. CARE. WIN., OPEN TO THINK, THE PURPOSE EFFECT, and FLAT ARMY. His third book, OPEN TO THINK, won the 2019 getAbstract International Book of the Year. His fourth LEAD. CARE. WIN. won the 2022 Nautilus Awards Silver Medal for Leadership. Dan also writes for Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and other outlets.
Dan is a renowned keynote speaker who has presented at four TED events and delivers approximately 50 keynotes annually. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business and has received over 25 industry, individual, and book awards. Furthermore, Dan hosts the popular Leadership NOW series, where he interviews famous thinkers, authors, CEOs, and other incredible leaders. Through these interviews, he seeks to understand what makes leadership and people better.
Before leaving the world of full-time gigs in 2018, Dan served as Chief Envisioner and Chief Learning Officer at TELUS, a Canadian telecommunications company with 50,000 global employees and over $14 billion in revenue. While at TELUS, he launched the Transformation Office, the TELUS MBA, and the TELUS Leadership Philosophy, all of which helped increase the company’s employee engagement to nearly 90%.
Prior to his ten years at TELUS, Dan held senior executive positions for 12 years with SAP, Business Objects, Crystal Decisions, and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Dan’s career is interwoven with corporate and academic experience, coupled with an MBA, B.Ed, and multiple industry certifications and awards. Notably, Dan is listed on the Thinkers50 Radar, HR Weekly’s 100 Most Influential People in HR, PeopleHum’s Top 200 Thought Leaders to Follow, and Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers.
In 2010, Dan was acknowledged by CLO as a Vanguard Award winner. In addition, he was a 2-time winner by the Corporate University Best in Class Awards of the Leader of the Year in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, SkillSoft awarded Dan the ‘Learning Leader of the Year’ for his work at TELUS, and CLO Magazine also bestowed the Learning in Practice
Innovation Award. He is also the recipient of the 2012 Brandon-Hall Gold Award in Strategy & Governance. In 2015, TELUS became a 10-time winner of the prestigious ATD BEST award under his leadership and was the first-ever recipient of the ATD Hall of Fame distinction.
Dan and his wife, Denise, have three children, two dogs and two cats and live in Victoria, Canada.
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ACCOLADES
Dan has also delivered four different TEDx Talks. You can watch them over here.
Inc. named him one of the top 100 leadership speakers.
Dan was honoured to be on the Thinkers50 radar list. In 2019, he was shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Talent Award.
POETRY
Dan loves to read and write poetry. He may even publish a book of poetry one day. For now, check this spot for a rotation of poems.
Spring Has Sprung
— Dan Pontefract, April 2022
What others are saying
Loved Dan! I think he is the best speaker that I have heard from at the breakfast series. Engaging, relevant, powerful speaker.
One of the best motivational speakers we have had over the past 21 years.
Dan was excellent. He really took into account our briefing and developed a presentation that was spot on. Everyone enjoyed it. I have read his book now too, quite good.
WOW, what a talk! I have been inundated with positive feedback from your keynote all weekend. You hit the nail on the head in terms of what’s happening in our organization and your examples really resonated with our group. One of our Execs was really thankful for how you directly tackled the “elephants in our room”. Our SVP couldn’t stop praising you during the reception. Thank you!
Dan, thank you for sharing your wisdom with the professionals within the State of Tennessee – we are better leaders because we learned how to be Open To Think!
Dan is a conference organizer’s ideal speaker. Not only did he inspire and energize our group, but he also masterfully adapted his content so it resonated with the audience and our conference theme. As a bonus, Dan is able to nimbly navigate to adjust to a reduced time slot when other speakers went over time without sacrificing the impact of his session.
