David Garrison

CEO

  • Hope ME UNITED STATES

CEO at Connect Networks | Creating high-impact networks

Contact

Media

Social

Biography

David Garrison is CEO of Connect Networks, a peer-insight platform that makes it easy to have great conversations with the right people—repeatedly, purposefully, and on an ongoing basis. Across thousands of conversations, organizations unlock innovation and drive measurable business and social impact.

He co-founded Climate & Capital Media, a non-profit news organization covering the business of climate change, and Climate & Capital Connect, it's sister venture focused on building professional networks. His work in climate gives him a rare vantage point across capital, policy, and operational dimensions of climate and sustainability.

David's career has been defined by a single throughline: helping leaders turn strategy into action through human connectin. As a founder, executive, and adviser—including as founder and CEO of The Brytemoore Group and a founding principal at Edelman Consulting, the management strategy consulting arm of the global Edelman network—he spent decades at the intersection of brand, strategy, and organizational change. His clients and audiences have ranged from Fortune 500 leadership teams to mission-driven startups.

He speaks and advises on the design of high-impact conversations and networks, turning strategy into lived experience, and the role of connection and culture in driving lasting change.

David holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a BA from McGill University.

Industry Expertise

Advertising/Marketing
Management Consulting
Public Relations and Communications

Areas of Expertise

Marketing Strategy
Strategic Communications
Expert Talent Development
Expert Marketing
Operational Branding
Brand Strategy

Accomplishments

2012 Eddy Award for Innovation

2012-08-01

The Eddy Awards recognize Edelman employees and engagement teams for consistent effort in advancing the caliber of Edelman's work.This award recognized achievements in developing a combined qualitative and quantitative model for identifying, prioritizing, managing, and tracking emerging strategic communications issues across a global client organization.

Education

McGill University

BA

Economics

Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth

Executive Program

Leading Innovation: From Idea to Impact

2012

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

MBA

Languages

  • French

Media Appearances

A System for Unexpected Connections | David Garrison

What If Instead? Podcast  online

2026-01-15

“Building a new kind of muscle around curiosity in networking has real business and social impact.”
– David Garrison, Founder & CEO of Connect Networks

In an era in which algorithms make so much interaction transactional, what if instead we could reopen windows for surprising one another, for "opening up storylines, instead of closing them down?" In this episode of What If Instead?, hosts Alejandro Juárez Crawford and Mim Plavin-Masterman sit down with Connect Networks CEO David Garrison to explore how to create a system for unexpected connections—and “unleash meaningful one-on-one conversations” at scale. When you unlock those connections, you find extraordinary power for creative problem solving—where it’s not comfortable, but you think in new ways. Can we do this systematically? Can organizations and communities weave together "the corners of the network that would normally never connect," to spark innovation and build ecosystems for change? Listen to the episode to learn what David's research and experiments have revealed—and how he's making this available where it hasn't been before.

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In Brand Relations, Think Globally to Succeed Globally

US News & World Report  online

2013-12-10

Quoted on integration of marketing activities.

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Event Appearances

Guest Lecture: An Intro to Operational Branding

MS in Communications Practice  Columbia University

2015-12-02

Guest Lecture: Applying an Operational Branding Lens to Communications Strategy

MS in Communications Practice  Columbia University

2014-11-19

The Thriving Patient Relationship: A Practical Approach to Building a Lasting Patient Relationship Through Your Dispensary

American Association of Naturopathic Physicians 2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition  Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, AZ

2014-08-08

Style

Availability

  • Keynote
  • Moderator
  • Panelist
  • Workshop Leader
  • Corporate Training

Articles

Kate Williams: Going beyond 1% for exponential environmental impact

Climate & Capital Media

David Garrison

2022-07-15

CEO of 1% for the Planet says companies can make a bigger difference when philanthropy is a core part of their strategy and aligns with their brand.

Most people know 1% for the Planet for its network of member companies that commit to donating 1% of their revenues to environmental issues. But Kate Williams, the CEO of the nonprofit, says there’s an even greater opportunity when companies embrace a strategic approach to giving. In this conversation with Climate & Capital’s co-founder David Garrison, Williams explores ways that capital giving can pack the greatest punch.

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