Leadership Development Topics
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David Robinson, CEO

David Robinson
Colonel, USMC (Ret)
Dave Robinson is a senior executive and retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel with over three decades of experience leading complex organizations and high-performing teams. A former fighter pilot and TOPGUN instructor, Dave is an expert and international speaker on the subjects of organizational leadership and performance improvement, and a senior advisor to Fortune 1000 companies in the realm of mission-critical operations with a focus on strategy, change management, and leadership development in high-reliability industries including aerospace & defense, transportation & logistics, safety & security, construction, energy, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, and biotechnology.
Throughout his 25-year military career, Dave served in several executive leadership positions in the areas of strategy, operations, logistics, maintenance, safety, communications, human resources, education, and training. He flew over 3,500 hours, 200 aircraft carrier landings, and 100 combat missions in the FA-18 Hornet, and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for supervising over 20,000 combat missions and more than 2,000 medical evacuations while serving as the Director of Air Operations in Iraq.
Dave also served as a strategy director for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he facilitated numerous studies used to develop the Pentagon’s ten-year vision and budget for the Department of Defense. In his final assignment, he was the commanding officer (CEO) of a $12B aviation enterprise where he managed operations, innovation, training, safety, logistics, maintenance, and sustainment for a fleet of 250 jet aircraft, and led over 2,500 personnel supporting global operations.
During his time in uniform, Dave discovered that one of his passions is helping leaders succeed. In 2011 he founded Vertical Performance Enterprises to help leaders take their teams to the next level through the application of proven leadership principles and performance-improvement fundamentals that have consistently produced winning results in some of the most complex, uncertain, and dynamic environments in the world.
Dave graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering, and subsequently earned a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National Defense University in Washington, DC. He and his family live in Hilton Head, South Carolina.