Propeller, a management consultancy for leading organizations in retail, technology, healthcare, energy and utilities, and the public sector, is pleased to announce David Woltze has been elevated to the Managing Director of the Bay Area.

“David has always been an invaluable advisor and mentor for employees and clients,” said Sunil Kasturi, CEO at Propeller. “As we consolidate our Bay Area markets under one leader, David’s expertise and dedication will help shepherd forward a new phase of growth in our second largest market.”

David Woltze, previously the Managing Director of Propeller’s Silicon Valley geography, has been promoted to the role of Managing Director overseeing both of Propeller’s Bay Area offices. In this role, David will assume ownership of the San Francisco market and oversee a combined profit and loss statement and expanded client portfolio. He will continue to partner with the firm leaders across the Bay Area to uphold a culture regularly recognized as a best place to work.

David Woltze started as a consultant in Propeller’s home market in 2014 and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area as the firm’s first consultant in the market in 2016. He held a leadership role in the San Francisco market until 2019 when he led Propeller’s expansion into Silicon Valley as the geography’s Managing Director. The Silicon Valley office has seen rapid growth under David, and he is recognized as a leader and meaningful contributor to the firm’s culture.

David is a doer who strongly believes in thorough, systematic communication and complete transparency. It’s a characteristic that has helped him build strong personal relationships and high-functioning teams.

We sat down with David to learn more about his career path at Propeller, the challenges he sees businesses facing in the Bay Area, and what he’s most excited to tackle in this role.

# 1. What’s your favorite ethos and why?

Over nine years into my time at Propeller, my favorite ethos has remained steady through multiple iterations of our manifesto – Harness Grit. Every day I work with Propellerites across the firm, I’m consistently blown away by the way each individual embraces complicated problems and finds ways to drive progress in the face of adversity. I'm constantly thinking, “Wow, I could never do that as well as they are – they’re absolutely crushing it.” It’s an amazing feeling to have these individuals as teammates. I believe the attitude and grit we bring to client problems are the key reasons clients continuously return to partner with us to solve their toughest challenges.

# 2. What are you most excited about in your new role? What are your expectations for yourself?

Without a doubt, the most exciting aspect of my new role is the opportunity to combine the knowledge and talents of our Bay Area offices. While close in proximity, the clients we support across the two offices are very different. We have always been great at sharing knowledge, but with the merger, we can bring leaders and consultants with diverse industry and domain knowledge and passion together to influence how we work and approach problem-solving across clients. My goal is to enable this by ensuring that we have a structure in place that allows for maximum knowledge sharing for the benefit of consultants, clients, and the work we’re trying to accomplish.

# 3. What’s your approach to leadership? How do you motivate and inspire?

Availability and transparency. I’m focused on creating time and capacity to be available to anyone at Propeller. I'm also focused on transparency in decision-making, sharing our successes and our failures. I believe the more information everyone has, the more effective they will be in their daily decision-making. By extension, this will lead to a better Propeller. My hope is that my availability and transparency act as a motivator and enabler for everyone to do their best work.

# 4. What have you been hearing from clients lately? What challenges are they facing?

More than ever, clients are prioritizing efficiency. We’re coming out of a cycle of spending to grow the top line and meet customer demands, towards a phase of improving profit margins and creating efficiencies in ways of working to prepare for an uncertain future. While the approach may differ across industries, the overall objective remains the same — to improve operations and become more efficient.

# 5. What’s one important lesson you’ve learned in your career so far?

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have excellent leaders and performance managers helping guide my career and ways of working. One common thing each of these leaders have demonstrated is an ability and willingness to plug gaps regardless of how menial or trivial it feels. I’m a big sports fan and recognize that knowing the role you play in support of an end goal, combined with the grit and willingness to do the little things, is going to result in a win for the team just about every time.

# 6. What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

My hobbies are constantly evolving and have spanned everything from hiking and traveling to craft beer and biking. I now have two boys, ages 4 and 2, and my world now revolves around them. My evenings are filled with as much quality time with them as I can create, and my weekends are all about finding fun activities they can explore and enjoy. While I'm having a blast now, I look forward to the days I can combine the old and new into amazing new family experiences.

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