Dan Davies- A Champion for the Region and Regionalism

October 2009

Dan Davies moved here in 1989 to establish a publication profiling local business leaders. Twenty years later, he has become one himself.

As managing director of executive search for Vaco Raleigh, LLC, Dan assists top CEOs, presidents and directors in identifying, evaluating and recruiting executives and managers for their organizations. He is a prominent member of many business groups too, such as the North Carolina Technology Association and the National Association of Corporate Directors. Yet Dan remains modest about his achievements and his incredibly varied resume.

"I went from teaching to sales and marketing to managing to entrepreneurship," he says. "And that’s not an unusual background. Teachers make good salespeople."

A native of Elyria, Ohio, Dan became a teacher after he graduated from the University of Miami, Ohio with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1966. "People who have a liberal arts degree can do whatever they want," he says, and in his case, he moved into sales and marketing with Gillette’s Papermate division and the Six Flags theme park group.

Those experiences taught Dan important lessons. His Gillette stint stressed the importance of organization. "I got to my clients at the right time, and they received good service," he says.

For Six Flags, Dan says he grasped that "Good things can happen if you think outside the box." The park considered a group of 500 people to be a big number for their salespeople to attract as visitors. Unaware of that, within 18 months, Dan recruited and sold two back-to-back groups of 25,000 to come to Six Flags.

Managing a variety of businesses came next before writing a column in a business magazine in Ft. Wayne, Ind. led to his move to the Triangle. Encouraged by the editor, Dan decided to start his own publication profiling the business scene in Lexington, Ky. But Dan heard from people who lived and worked in the Triangle say how they loved it, so he relocated to Raleigh in 1989 and has never regretted it.

As publisher of Business Leader magazine, Dan profiled virtually every major company in the Triangle. The publication flourished, and he became known as a friendly, enthusiastic community member.

But plans to expand the magazine into a national franchise failed. "I realized as I was approaching 65 I had neither the time, nor the money, nor the expertise to set up that platform," he says. He knew his limitations, yet he was not ready to retire.

Then David Rhode, the managing partner of Vaco Raleigh, asked Dan if he knew of anyone qualified to lead Vaco’s new executive search division. Dan waited a few months before pitching himself successfully to David, then announced his retirement from Business Leader in March of 2008.

The big change Dan has seen here over the last 20 years is "The spirit of regionalism has taken over." He points to the N.C. Biotechnology Center and Council for Entrepreneurial Development as examples of how people work together for the betterment of all. In his opinion, regionalism has led to growth in cultural attractions, professional sports and the quality of the Wake County Public School System — "an underappreciated gem."

Dan also credits people like Smedes York and Jim Goodmon for promoting the greater good of the community. "The Triangle has consistently had good leadership," he says. "That’s something a lot of places don’t have."

As for his future, Dan says while you can prepare for your life, you cannot predict what will happen. "I’ve been fortunate to have met a lot of good people on my path," he says. "I’m glad where I ended up."

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