Former PE-backed CEO. 57 M&A deals. 13,400+ hours coaching the people who hold the seats he used to hold.
David Turner is the founder and CEO of Velocity Now LLC, an executive coaching firm based in Denver, Colorado. He has logged 13,400+ hours coaching CEOs and their executive teams at PE-backed, public, and family-owned companies. Before coaching, he was CEO of Contegix, a $65M private equity-backed technology company, and SVP / Managing Director at DigitalGlobe, where he led a 123-person revenue team delivering $700M+. He has been part of 57 M&A transactions. He is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and the YPO Colorado board, and holds a BBA from Baylor University (MIS + QBA).
David spent 31 years in C-level and senior operating roles before he coached anyone. He was Vice President at IHS, then SVP / Managing Director at DigitalGlobe, where his organization grew from $320M to $703M in revenue over a run that started in 2012. Employee engagement in that group went from 44% to 97%, unwanted attrition stayed under 3%, and more than half the team was upgraded along the way. The line he wrote for that team, coach individuals, inspire a team, is still the shortest description of how he works.
He then ran Contegix as a private equity-backed CEO, a $65M technology company with a board, a hold period, and a value-creation plan. He knows what it is to own a number, to sit across from operating partners, and to integrate an acquisition while the core business still has to hit the quarter. The 57 M&A transactions came from buying, selling, and integrating companies, not from advising on them from the outside.
Most executive coaching starts with the coach asking the leader to explain the business. David skips that step. He has carried a P&L through a downturn, sat in the board meeting where the plan got rewritten, and made the hiring call that turned out wrong. So the conversation starts on shared language, and the pattern recognition from 13,400 hours across every major industry does the rest.
The other difference is structural. David coaches the CEO and the direct reports at the same time. He triangulates what the CEO says, what the team says, and what neither of them says out loud. That is how misalignment gets seen early, while it is still cheap to fix.
He is willing to hold the conversation no one else in the building will. Clients describe him as a truth teller who cares. Every client is referenceable, without exception.
Client companies span private equity-backed, publicly traded, and family-owned businesses across technology, manufacturing, energy, professional services, consumer, and healthcare.
Most engagements are monthly retainer coaching, a mix of video and in-person sessions with the CEO or a C-suite leader. Many expand into executive team coaching: leadership team alignment retainers, executive offsites (90+ planned and facilitated), 360 assessments, and executive candidate evaluation. David also advises on M&A when a client is buying or being bought.
Underneath all of it is a library of 80+ proprietary leadership frameworks built from the field, available to clients through the Velocity Now frameworks app.
Zero regrets about my time invested with David and the value provided. If I did have a regret, it would only be that I wish I would have brought David into my business many years ago. CEO, $175M family-owned business
David writes The Keystone Leader on Substack, hosts the Velocity Now podcast (also on Apple Podcasts), and contributes to Forbes as a member of the Forbes Coaches Council. He sits on the YPO Colorado board and has participated in CERAWeek and the World Economic Forum's Summer Davos. He lives in Denver.
One email. No forms, no intake funnel. David reads and answers every note himself.
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