As co-founder of Proactive Worldwide, Mr. David Kalinowski leads the organization in developing and implementing the strategies and tactics that are critical to providing world-class competitive intelligence research, training, and consulting services.
A 32-year veteran in the CI field, Mr. Kalinowski is known for his skills in helping clients recognize and transcend their business and competitive challenges. He has directed CI research for nearly 100 large and mid-size domestic and international corporations across many industries. Prior to co-founding Proactive Worldwide, he served as researcher, analyst, project manager and consultant at another research firm, where he managed many Fortune 500 accounts.
Mr. Kalinowski is a recognized CI expert whose experience includes researching and directing projects related to benchmarking, compensation, competitive strategies, customer service, distribution, operations, marketing, mergers and acquisitions, organizational structure, pricing, product plans, R&D, sales, go-to-market strategies, customer experience, voice of customer, and strategic planning. He assists numerous advisory and executive boards in highly sensitive competitive intelligence strategy development and training initiatives and is also considered a trusted advisor on counter-intelligence matters.
A dynamic speaker and facilitator, Mr. Kalinowski frequently shares his knowledge through lively presentations about CI techniques and methodologies to varied audiences, including graduate-level business school classes, Frost & Sullivan executive seminars, the Society of Insurance Research, Association of Strategic Planning, and the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) annual meetings. In 2006, he co-led the developing a true framework for determining ROI for both market research and CI professionals called ROCI® (Return on Competitive Intelligence). Other topics he has spoken on include assessing competitive challenges in industrial and high-tech manufacturing industries, demonstrating strategic value, managing internal client expectations, leveraging CI to inform innovation strategy, building an intelligence network, utilizing primary research techniques, apply analytical frameworks, and cultivating a CI culture of excellence.
Mr. Kalinowski is a Board Member and Treasurer of the Society of Insurance Research (SIR) and a Member of the International Association of Facilitators He is also a life member SCIP and received SCIP’s prestigious Catalyst Award in 2005 for his contributions to the competitive intelligence community. He served on SCIP’s board in 2007.
He has trained thousands of CI Professionals in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa on CI core skills as part corporate training that Proactive leads and in collaboration with SCIP’s Competitive IQ Certification Program. He has authored many articles on CI topics, including several pieces for Competitive Intelligence Magazine. David has co-written two, bestselling books: New Directions: A Competitive Intelligence Tale (2011) and The CI-Driven CEO (2022).
David holds a BS in Political Science/Public Law from Northern Illinois University.