Dave Coffaro

Finance manager

Dave Coffaro is a strategic advisor, executive coach, keynote speaker and author. His area of expertise is guiding business and leaders in navigating change. Dave is a trained strategist (Peter F. Drucker School of Management) with deep experience in financial services. He helps clients develop and deploy innovative business operating models that bring their vision to life. Dave’s broad financial services experience includes strategy consulting and leadership positions in commercial banking and wealth management. His consulting work focuses on banks and registered investment advisory firms. As a practitioner, Dave has served in for-profit and nonprofit leadership positions, including Interim President & CEO of Members Trust Company, Interim CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, Executive Vice President, Chief Fiduciary Officer and Head of Trust & Fiduciary Services at Wells Fargo, and Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy for International Trade Finance at Bank of America. He is co-founder of Atticus, a fintech firm providing individuals and professional advisors easy to use, do-it-yourself tools for fiduciary-based activities. Dave's corporate board experience includes previous service as a director with Members Trust Company. Dave’s strategy consulting work began in graduate school, working with a team that developed a turnaround plan for an unprofitable airline. Following graduate school, consulting engagements focused on financial services firms, franchisors and privately held businesses, developing actionable, practical, strategic pathways to greater success. Dave is committed to enhancing strategic leadership acumen and professional competency in organizations. In the financial services industry, he furthered this mission as Founding Chair of the UC Berkeley Extension Wealth Management Program, served on the American Bankers Association Professional Development Council and through the Trust Management Association. Dave also contributes to professional development through Executive Coaches of Orange County, serving nonprofit executives through one-to-one coaching on a pro-bono basis. He taught strategic management at California State University, Fullerton. Dave served on the boards of directors of Members Trust Company, Rancho Santiago Community College District Foundation, and Second Harvest Foodbank of Orange County. Dave speaks and writes on topics related to leading change, organization transformation and innovation, and financial services, with articles published in American Management Association Journal, SmartBrief on Leadership, ABA Banking Journal, Financial Executives International, Quality Digest, Psychology Today, and Business Transformation SmartBrief. His books, Leading from Zero: Seven Essential Elements of Earning Relevance and Leading from Where you Are: 7 Themes to Make a Meaningful Impact in Your Work are available on Amazon. Dave earned a Master of Business Administration degree in Strategic Management from the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at the Claremont Graduate University, with an undergraduate degree in Organizational Behavior and Business Administration from California State University, Fullerton.

Masters in Strategic Management

Global Networks

Organizational Behavior and Business Administration