David J. Schaus

daves@oakconsulting.com 

Mr. Schaus has over twenty-five years of professional experience in various corporate roles and also in the consulting industry. Dave brings to his clients the knowledge and insights of real world leadership and management experience honed through years of practical application. Dave focuses his practice in the areas of Organizational Design, Leadership and Management Development, Executive Coaching, Career Development, Change Management, Team Dynamics and Personal Productivity. Unique about his style is the ability to quickly translate theory into meaningful solutions, specific to the needs of his clients.

Having spent 19 years in the financial services field, beginning in 1977 at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Schaus progressed through a series of positions ranging from sales, investment banking, securities trading & underwriting and finally into senior management. He culminated his career in this industry as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Dain Rauscher, in Minneapolis, MN.

Dave then founded Workplace Dynamics, Inc. a consulting organization focused on the delivery of training & development programs to all levels of management. Having successfully managed people for the majority of his career, Workplace Dynamics allowed him to marry his passion for personal development with the business challenges of motivating, managing and helping people to succeed professionally.

One of his larger clients, Brookdale Living Communities, Inc., retained him to provide extensive management development for a unique and growing enterprise in an equally unique industry. Brookdale is one of the leading developers and operators in the independent and assisted living industry. The executive team of Brookdale eventually convinced Dave to accept the role of Senior Vice President of Human Resources, to focus on the goal of tripling the size to over 3,000 employees nationally. During this growth, Mr. Schaus led the organization through multiple acquisitions and assimilation of the people, a complete redesign of the compensation and benefit programs and the introduction of several training initiatives. 

After building the human resources structure, including hiring & selection, training, employee relations and compensation & benefits, Dave accepted the additional role of Senior Vice President for Sales & Marketing. After successfully completing the job of building these capabilities, Dave chose to return to his consulting role, and through the combination of his business and the resources offered through Oak Consulting, provides consulting services to individuals and organizations nationally.