DAVID ZELMAN, Ph.D. Founder and President, Transitions Institute, Inc. Biographical Information David Zelman practices what he preaches. As founder and president of Transitions Institute, Inc., Dr. Zelman has successfully reinvented himself several times. The 52-year-old psychotherapist and business coach has found his niche both professionally and personally, but that wasn’t always so. At 21, he had dropped out of college disillusioned after discovering he was dyslexic and just couldn’t keep up. He was down and out in California in the ‘60’s with no money, no job and no future. Then something happened. He picked up a psychology textbook and was captivated by the mind-body connection. The New York native returned to the University of Cincinnati and graduated with a degree in psychology, winding up on the dean’s list during his last year. "For the first time in my life I gave myself permission to give everything I had to accomplishing the goal," he says. "I had to read things three or four times to get it. It didn’t come naturally." Dr. Zelman went on to get his master’s and doctorate in behavioral disabilities at the University of Wisconsin and soon began a private clinical and consulting practice that focused on training, team-building and communication programs to corporations and non-profit organizations. He became more and more interested in those who wanted to reinvent themselves, and his individual counseling practice grew. Soon he was jetting to Los Angeles, New York and London to work one-on-one with high profile professionals and international elites. "He listens heartfully, but is strategically minded," says one client. "I look at his role as part confessor, part co-conspirator." Last year he reinvented himself again by starting the Transitions Institute to focus on helping people design their "second lives." He also saw a general malaise among the majority of working Americans and decided to expand his concept for those who couldn’t afford his day rate. His three two-day workshops offered last spring in Dallas were sellouts, with attendees flying in from both the East and West coasts, as well as Canada. In addition to working with others to design their futures, Dr. Zelman continues to work on his own. Naturally, he is most focused on developing stronger personal relationships with his wife, Karen, a certified nurse midwife, and his three children, Michael, Brian and Lauren. He is also interested in reaching a wider audience, creating additional seminars with other experts, developing a series of motivational tapes, writing a book and even considering a TV talk show. "In the end," he says, "people need to ask themselves the question, ‘If I was financially independent and didn’t have to work, what would I do with my time?’ You have to have a sense of self-worth that extends beyond what you do for a living. That’s the real creation of wealth." CREDENTIALS C.E.O. & Founder of Transitions Institute, Inc. C.E.O. & Founder of Innovative Strategies, Inc. Doctorate from University of Wisconsin: Madison in Behavioral Disabilities InvestLinc, C.E.O. Council Co-Author: Financial Fitness: Six Principles for Building a Long-Term Wealth Consciousness Transitions Programs / Consulting / Leadership Development business for over twenty years American Express · Hilton Hotels Worldwide · Hampton Inn · Random House Publishing · Roxbury Capital Management Executive Coach JP Morgan Chase · Quadrant Management · Zdenek Financial Planning · AskJeeves.com · Hamlin Capital PRESENTATIONS / SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS Entrepreneurs Organization – “Managing Individual and Organizational Transitions”: Chicago, Illinois – 2007 Ultimate Practice Management Conference for Optometrists: Hollywood, Florida – 2006 InvestLinc National Conferences: Chicago, IL – 2005, 2006; Cleveland, OH – 2006; Atlanta, GA – 2007 Gathering of Titans Conference at MIT: Boston, Massachussetts – 2005, 2006 Organization Development Network of Greater New York – “Managing Transitions”: New York, New York – 2004 Renaissance Conference: North Carolina – 2001 National Speakers Association Leadership & Productivity Institute – “Success Is Not a Day Job”: Dallas, Texas – 2002 International Speakers Bureau: Dallas, Texas – 2000-present American Airlines – “Keys to the Future”: Dallas, Texas – 1994 National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers Convention: Las Vegas, Nevada – 1999 Northeast Conference for Certified Financial Planners: New Jersey – 2000 EG&G Rocky Flats Chapter, National Management Association: Boulder, Colorado – 1992 Bank One: Dallas, Texas – 1995 American Express Financial Advisors: Dallas, Texas – 1999 Dallas Rotary Club: Dallas, Texas – 1999 MEDIA Fast Company, “Balance is Bunk”, October 2004 Dallas Morning News, “What Is Carty’s Next Destination? The Usual Career Routes May Not Be Options for Ex-AMR Head”, May 9, 2003 New York Times, “Executive Life; A Chief’s Anguish: Letting Workers Go”, December 29, 2002 Fortune Magazine, “Agents of Change”, April 1, 2002 New York Times, “Trading Places, C.E.O. Does Mrs. Mom”, February 7, 2002 London Financial Times, “A Re-Design for Life”, April 2001 British Vogue, “A Design for Living”, June 2000 Dallas Morning News, “Gotta Get a Life!”, January 17, 1999 Wall Street Journal, “Managing your Career”, June 30, 1998 Chapters by Candice Carpenter, McGraw-Hill, 2002