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Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1951, Dave was raised in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan and graduated from Grosse Pointe (South) High School in 1969. As a boy, he enjoyed little league baseball for 6 years, was active in Boy Scouts, achieving Eagle Scout in 1964.  Thanks to encouragement from his Mom (now 100 in Michigan) Dave learned to play guitar and played in a few bands playing and singing 60s and 70s rock, pop hits, easy listening music, mostly in Michigan but also some solo performances in Wisconsin in the 80s. SPORTS AND ACTIVITIES AND FAMILY Dave also played lots of tennis, a sport that his Dad loved, and both played for their colleges. He also played power volleyball for Western Michigan University and Detroit Turners in the 70s. He has played golf since he took lessons when he was 8 and still enjoys the game. He and his wife Mandy do a lot of bicycling too, and raced sailboats in the 80s. He also owned a 20’ day sailboat in the 70s and 80s. He and Mandy met while snow skiing (another sport they loved) at Vail in 1987. She is a Nurse Practitioner with Advocate Aurora Healthcare, and also worked in pharmaceutical sales with Pfizer in the 90s. Dave has lived in Milwaukee for 40 years, when he was promoted and moved from Schaumburg, IL where he ran operations as Assistant Manager of Woodfield for a year. Dave continued his career in Wisconsin and has lived in Mequon for 33+ years. They have 2 children, Stephanie living in Denver and Jason in Brown Deer. CAREER After graduating with a BBA Finance degree from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI (1973), Dave was a banker/mortgage banker in Detroit in the 70’s, specializing in commercial real estate finance. He continued in commercial real estate for 25 years using finance, operations, management, marketing, and leadership skills. After managing regional retail malls in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin for 5 years, he was President of Polacheck Property Management Corp. (now CBRE) and managed over 7 million square feet of commercial properties. He acquired a 100+ year old small established business in 2002 (from an MMAC friend who is also a Rotary) called S-F Analytical Laboratories, Inc., an independent commercial testing lab (environmental, specialty, and food), and served as President/CEO/majority shareholder. In 2014 Dave sold it to Eurofins, a global lab company with 200+ labs, 17,000 employees (now 40,000) in 36 countries (now 50). He retired in August 2015 after 42 years leading businesses in many industries, and stays connected to networks, helping others with advice and experience sharing. COMMUNITY SERVICE He's been an active leader in community (chaired the small business Board at MMAC and the MMAC Board), served in multiple industry associations (including as President of the Milwaukee Institute of Real Estate Management, plus BOMA, Association of Independent Laboratories, etc.), and business development/commerce organizations like Milwaukee 7 and the Water Council founded in Milwaukee. He and Rotarian Pat Cronin co-founded the Lumen Christi Employment Network ministry which has helped over 900 people find jobs. Pat runs it and Dave helps job searchers as needed. Dave joined Rotary in 2001, and his sponsor was neighbor Ken Zganjar, who is a past President of our Club. He’s been active for 22 years except when the Club gave him take a 1 year leave of absence to sell his business. He has served as Chair of Vocational and Club Service Avenues. Our Club has done good work positively serving others. |
