David Shepherd, President and CEO
For over twenty years, David Shepherd served in various faculty positions at the McComb's School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin. Regularly ranked among the nation's Top-10 public business programs, David taught one of the nation's largest courses on entrepreneurial finance and strategy. Through the University's Management Development Program, he worked with more than 1,000 business owners and taught venture capital finance at the University's prestigious ICC Institute where he was honored for his outstanding contributions to the program.

A successful small business owner himself, David has raised millions in venture capital to launch companies, has bought and sold companies, and has conducted extensive consulting projects including turnaround campaigns.

In 2001 he authored Your Business or Your Life: 8 Steps For Getting All You Want Out of BOTH, a book that vaulted to Amazon's Top 10 books for entrepreneurs and continues to sell briskly today. The 8 Steps Home Study Program (a 5-DVD, 10 Unit course with workbook) debuted in 2009.

Popular as a speaker, David was hired by trade associations to tailor the "8 Steps" for groups of small business owners. Among those was ASID, the American Society of Interior Designers. In preparing for his presentation, David discovered that interior design was among the most complex businesses he had ever seen, and the industry was in the midst of rapid change or what he termed "creative destruction."

David quickly founded Designing Profits, Inc. to try and bring powerful business and strategic planning tools to this talented group of business owners who often had little formal business education. In short order, DPI:
⁃ Created the Business of Design--the nation's only annual conference dedicated to the financial success of interior designers;
⁃ Created the Best Practices Network--a group of elite interior designers from coast to coast who come together twice a year to share "best practices" under David's direction;
⁃ Launched the annual What Designers Earn and How They Earn It survey showing design fees, profit margins, productivity rates and more;
⁃ Developed over 300 tracks for audio newsletters bringing design strategies to subscribers;
⁃ Developed comprehensive courses for vital areas including cash flow, strategy, direct response marketing, strategic partnerships, and compensation;
⁃ Developed The Business School for interior design professionals held on the University of Chicago campus;
⁃ Produced dozens of Webinars on vital topics;
⁃ Created the DPI online store;
⁃ And in the 4th quarter of 2009, launched The Business of Design Newsletter, a print edition brining the most current news and strategy to subscribers;
⁃ David also conducts on-site consulting assignments each year.

With his background, and now his full-time focus on the interior design industry, David Shepherd has clearly established himself as the leading provider of serious business advice to serious interior designers.