ABOUT THE FOUNDER AND CEO, David Wayne

Once upon a time, and yes it was a very long time ago, there was a child named David born in Toronto, Canada. Growing up, he discovered a love for reading, something he escaped into in lieu of such things as school work which, when he actually did it, was done poorly. He also discovered that he had a natural ability for running, a skill acquired from escaping from the bullies he attracted. High School was a disaster but, lucky for him, instead of failing a grade, he skipped a couple and found himself an “early entrant” at a highly respected U.S. college.

However, he found his first program choice, medicine, very difficult, as he had never taken science courses. Coming to his senses, he switched to social sciences and specialized in political science and psychology. He became president of the student association during the Vietnam War era and was active in student rights issues from the important - student record/draft board issues to the relatively inconsequential - the ability to wear blue jeans on campus. Back then he saw them as parallel issues of equal value.

When he graduated, he had no jobs or plans but, since there was a teacher's shortage, decided that since he had hated school so much, that he could do a better job as a teacher. They told him he could teach history (because he knew political science) and physical education (because he could run and was on the Canadian national track team). He knew little history and was somewhat uncoordinated but liked the students and the feeling seemed to be reciprocated.

David was still exploring what he wanted to be when he grew up. He lived and worked in Europe for a year. He earned masters' degrees in sociology and in counseling, a Ph.D. in psychology, and a post-graduate diploma in psychiatry. He was the true perpetual student. He became a counselor, a consultant, a coach, and an administrator in the schools and began to do some private organization development work. Eventually he even became an associate professor at a prestigious university (he still didn't know what he was going to be) and wrote a couple of books.

While delivering a lecture at the university on ages and stages of development he became aware that he was at a stage in his life where he needed a change so took a leave of absence and moved, with his three children, to Arizona. He spent a year doing keynote addresses at conferences around the U.S.A. and Canada, entertaining by making up conference talking blues songs that he played on his guitar as a form of light entertainment. When he got worried about the expiry of his visa, David went to work at the Department of Education in Arizona running Leadership Academies and helping educators and their communities with planning and capacity building. He also kept his hand in teaching starting a 15 year affiliation as a professor at Arizona State University and a visiting lecturer at the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University.

Wanting U.S. citizenship, while keeping his Canadian status as well, David applied for and received a resident visa. He learned the bureaucratic realities of the immigration process when he was told that the application had been in limbo for too long and his ”fingerprints had expired”, although they looked the same to him. However, he did succeed in becoming “naturalized” and, in fact, when the people he met at the Immigration and Naturalization Services found out that he was a psychologist, they asked for his help, (probably in finding lost fingerprints).

From the public education arena David moved back into health care, running education and staff development for a hospital group and later becoming the only non-physician in the U.S. to run a Family Practice residency training program and earning an important national Fellowship. During that time he returned somewhat to his roots and saw patients while, at the same time doing private organization development work. Sometimes there was not a big difference between the two types of clients.

In 2000 he took the plunge and went totally private, first as part of Tapestries International, founded by Linda Vogelsong, and now as CEO of Four Seasons International Consulting. He has created a virtual organization with over 100 consultants and facilitators world wide who can be plugged in as part of tailored work teams. David established a focus on working with education, governments, health care and not-for profits/NGO’s. He has leveraged his voluntary roles as a Past Chair of the International Association of Facilitators and a Regional Coordinator for the Society of Learning. David has continued his association with a private health care university in a variety of post graduate programs. He has finally found his life work and looks forward to the many new challenges on the horizon.