About
The Pontefract Group, founded by Dan Pontefract, is a firm that aims to improve the state of leadership and organizational culture. It offers a variety of services including organizational culture and leadership assessments, organizational design/redesign, executive consulting as well as team workshops.
Full potential is possible.
DAN’S BIO
Dan Pontefract is a leadership strategist, keynote speaker, best-selling author and he founded the Pontefract Group in 2014.
The three books he authored, OPEN TO THINK, THE PURPOSE EFFECT, and FLAT ARMY, are all critically acclaimed and best-sellers.
His third book, OPEN TO THINK, is the 2019 get Abstract International Book of the Year winner and the 2019 Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medal winner in the Leadership category.
Dan’s 4th book, LEAD. CARE. WIN. How to Become a Leader Who Matters, will publish on September 29, 2020.
A renowned speaker, Dan has presented at four different TED events and also writes for Forbes and Harvard Business Review. Dan is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business, and has garnered more than 20 industry awards over his career.
Previously as Chief Envisioner and Chief Learning Officer at TELUS — a Canadian telecommunications company with revenues of $14 billion and 50,000 global employees—he launched the Transformation Office, the TELUS MBA, and the TELUS Leadership Philosophy, all award-winning initiatives that dramatically helped to increase the company’s employee engagement to record levels of nearly 90%. Prior to TELUS, he held senior roles at SAP, Business Objects, and BCIT.
Did you know? You can buy signed copies of Dan’s books, personalized just for you. Check out Dan’s Shopify site and order from there.
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.
Dan was named as one of Engagedly’s Top 100 Human Resources Influencers of 2020
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.
I See You
I see you in the shadows of night,
On the balconies and terraces,
Singing a tune while shining your light.
I see you on your webcam trying to work, I know it’s hard with kids in the other room, Ready to pounce, open the door and lurk.
I see you giving a concert over the web, Sharing your voice, music and gift, Joining us as one and pausing the celeb.
I see you walking up the road, A cautionary hockey stick apart, Yearning to kiss, waiting patiently to explode.
I see you gleefully playing family board games, Reigniting relationships previously worn thin, Laughing in love, burning the blame.
I see you in your beat-up car, Delivering groceries to the weak and needy, Because your heart is as big as a star.
I see you making handmade masks at home, To fill the shortage that grows large, Not for credit, but perhaps to say “shalom”.
I see you behind the plastic and conveyor belt, Scanning my food with a smile from ear to ear, It’s not what you asked for but what has been dealt.
I see you at 7 pm banging your pots, Feting our angels, the healthcare heroes, Who continue to deal with the COVID knot.
I see you in the ICU, Stricken, helpless, reflecting on a life, This is not goodbye, rather a momentary adieu.
— Dan Pontefract, April 2020
Media Kit
Short Bio & Speaker Intro (with download PDF)
Dan is the founder and CEO of The Pontefract Group, a firm that improves the state of leadership and organizational culture.
He is the best-selling author of four books: LEAD. CARE. WIN., OPEN TO THINK, THE PURPOSE EFFECT and FLAT ARMY. A renowned speaker, Dan has presented at four different TED events and also writes for Forbes and Harvard Business Review. Dan is an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business and has garnered more than 20 industry awards over his career.
His third book, OPEN TO THINK is the 2019 getAbstract International Book of the Year winner and the 2019 Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medal winner in the Leadership category.
Previously as Chief Envisioner and Chief Learning Officer at TELUS—a Canadian telecommunications company with revenues of over $14 billion and 50,000 global employees—he launched the Transformation Office, the TELUS MBA, and the TELUS Leadership Philosophy, all award-winning initiatives that dramatically helped to increase the company’s employee engagement to record levels of nearly 90%. Prior to TELUS he held senior roles at SAP, Business Objects and BCIT.
Dan and his wife, Denise, have three children (aka goats) and live in Victoria, Canada.
Long Bio (with download PDF)
Dan Pontefract
Leadership Strategist, Author, Speaker, Founder of The Pontefract Group
Dan is the best-selling author of four books: LEAD. CARE. WIN. How to Become a Leader Who Matters, OPEN TO THINK: Slow Down, Think Creatively, and Make Better Decisions, THE PURPOSE EFFECT: Building Meaning in Yourself, Your Role and Your Organization and FLAT ARMY: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. Dan is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business.
He is the founder and CEO of The Pontefract Group a firm that improves the state of leadership and organizational culture.
His third book, OPEN TO THINK won the 2019 getAbstract International Book of the Year and the 2019 Axiom Business Book Award Silver Medal winner in the Leadership category.
Previously, as Chief Envisioner of TELUS he founded the Transformation Office in 2014 to help organizations enhance their corporate culture, leadership, learning, work styles & collaboration practices. As Chief Learning Officer at TELUS, Dan was responsible for the overarching leadership, collaboration & learning strategy for the company. Dan championed the introduction of the TELUS Leadership Philosophy (TLP), a collaborative-based leadership framework for 50,000+ team members. In parallel to these actions he drove a philosophical and cultural shift in the way TELUS views and experiences learning called “Pervasive Learning” the shift to a social, informal and formal learning model. He further championed the use and deployment of collaborative technologies to complement both the leadership and learning frameworks.
Between 2008 and 2018, employee engagement at TELUS soared from 53% to nearly 90%. Dan’s innovation also led to the introduction of the TELUS MBA—run in partnership with the University of Victoria—which allows TELUS team members the opportunity to garner an MBA over a two-year period. The program has won three international awards and delivered new revenues and savings in excess of $300 million.
His career is interwoven with both corporate and academic experience, coupled with an MBA, B.Ed and multiple industry certifications and accreditations. Dan is also a renowned speaker and has been invited to deliver over 300 external keynotes and presentations, including four TED Talks. In 2012 he appeared on the front cover of T+D Magazine and Chief Learning Officer Magazine. Dan also writes for Forbes, Harvard Business Review and The Huffington Post.
In 2010, Dan was acknowledged by CLO as a ‘Vanguard Award’ winner and is a 2-time winner by the Corporate University Best in Class Awards of the ‘Leader of the Year’ in both 2010 and 2011. In 2012, SkillSoft awarded Dan the ‘Learning Leader of the Year’ for his work at TELUS and CLO Magazine bestowed the ‘Learning in Practice Innovation Award’ as well. 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. In 2013 and 2014, TELUS also placed in the top ten of the Learning! 100 Awards.
Previous to his ten years at TELUS he held senior positions over twelve years with SAP, Business Objects, Crystal Decisions and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).
Dan and his wife, Denise, have three children (aka goats) and live in Victoria, Canada.
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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.
