About me
David Yarnold has a take. And one of the most unusual leadership journeys you can imagine.
David is the author and primary photographer of “The Geography of Hope: Real-Life Stories of Optimists Mapping a Brighter Future,” to be published in October, 2024 by Esri Press.
After a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism career, David helped the Environmental Defense Fund stake out its unique centrist approach and then engineered the lighting turnaround of the 107-year-old National Audubon Society as its CEO. A Harvard Business School case study characterized it as the “most significant remake of a large legacy nonprofit in decades.”
Under his leadership, Audubon doubled its funding to $150M, beating the goals of a $650M campaign. Membership increased 10X to two million people from across the politcal spectrum.
At Audubon, visionary staff leaders introduced him to geospatial mapping (GIS), inspiring David to travel from Nairobi to Prague to Bakersfield to tell the stories of people finding solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems.
He consults with numerous organizations at the intersection of storytelling, fundraising and strategy. He helps lead two non-profit boards, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA., and as vice-chair for American Leadership Forum/Silicon Valley.
He believes that most organizations can change more significantly, rapidly, and inclusively than they think they can. He’s passionate about the role of creativity in nonprofits and consults at the intersection of fundraising, storytelling, and strategy. David unlocks organizations’ potential by telling their stories, using compelling narratives to draw people in and analytics to understand what’s working.
His broad experience makes him a valuable voice for leadership teams and in board rooms and C-suites. He models empathetic and inquisitive listening to bring out the best in his clients and partners.
He’s an energizing motivational speaker, and he’s written for the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and others.
Change-Maker
As Audubon’s president and CEO, he unified a vast, fragmented network by articulating a shared vision and strategy — the first in more than two decades — and repositioned the brand for modern relevance. His team grew revenue from $73M to $143M, delivered a 4-star top charity rating, and grew membership by 471% (350,000 to 2M+).
He is a prolific and strategic fundraiser. At Audubon, he led a $650M campaign, raising dozens of 11, 10, and nine-figure investments (and smaller), showing how contemporary fundraising is about building partnerships. He enjoys sharing his expertise with others.
Using web-based tools, Audubon localized climate change for U.S. Senators and local chapter advocates alike through birds; made buying bird-friendly native plants as easy as shopping for shoes; and created training programs for beginning communicators and data visualizers. Audubon stands alone in the environmental field as the winner of the General Excellence award from the American Society of Magazine Editors — after David hired the magazine’s first woman editor.
Storyteller
David has always been passionate about telling stories. When he was Executive Editor at one of America’s ten best newspapers, the San Jose Mercury News, people noticed the publication’s design and storytelling skills that set them apart from other papers. During David’s tenure, the International Society for News Design recognized the paper for being “the boldest American newspaper we saw,” acknowledging not only David’s approach to design, but also his belief in stories that have a visceral impact on readers.
David’s untraditional approach included his deep understanding of the business itself. While he served as the newsroom’s lead on initiatives, the under-the-radar regional newspaper transformed into one of America’s ten best papers, nearly tripling revenue from $120M to over $330M.
In the 90s, when the internet’s disruptive leaders were starting to understand its capabilities, David innovated along with them with “Inkling.” This website aggregated content from cities across the country, with daily contributions by globally known writers like Carl Hiassen, Mitch Albom, and Dave Barry.
Inclusion Advocate
David has consistently made equity, justice, diversity and belonging key parts of his leadership values. As the chair of two major journalism organizations, he created new ways to increase representation for people from underrepresented groups in newspapers across America — redefining what it means as editors and readers and for his industry as a whole.
David brought the same commitment to Environmental Defense Fund, mandating diverse candidate pools and bringing an unprecedented number of women into senior management roles. At Audubon, he created a VP/ED&I role and supported that work with a budget and executive leadership. His management team committed Audubon to becoming an anti-racist organization. In his final months, he brought in new ED&I leadership with a mandate and an ambitious agenda for change — and a financial commitment that met the moment.
David put himself through college, earning his B.A. degree from San Jose University and graduating with honors — eventually being named a distinguished alumnus.