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Dave Korten (1955)

Name
Dave Korten
Class
1955
Category
HoF Lifetime Achievement
Induction Year
2017

Dave Korten was recognized for being able to hold his own in a good debate as President of the Debate Club while at R. A. Long.  Dave also excelled in music and graduated in the top 10 percent of his class of 1955.  He went on to attend Stanford University and as an undergraduate played in the Stanford band, orchestra and the pit orchestra for Ram’s Head Theatrical productions.  He was band manager his senior year.  He received a BA in Psychology in 1959, and went on to earn MBA and PHD degrees from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.  Being trained in psychology, organization theory, business strategy and economics, he devoted his early career years to advancing business education in low-income countries.  He set up the College of Business Administration in the Haile Selassie I University in Ethiopia, and at the same time completing his doctoral studies at the Stanford University Business School.  Dave served as a captain in the Air Force during the VietNam war, with duty at the following, Special Air Warfare School, Air Force Headquarters Command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Advanced Research Projects Agency.  After his military service, he served for 5 years on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, teaching MBA, PHD and middle management programs and serving as it’s advisor to the Central American Management Institute in Nicaraugua.  Dave then headed a Ford Foundation funded, Harvard Institute for International Development project to strengthen the organization and management of the National Family Planning programs throughout the world.  He taught a course on family planning management at the Harvard School of Public Health.  In the 1970’s he moved to Southeast Asia, where he and his family lived for nearly 15 years.  While there he served first as a Ford Foundation project specialist and later as Asia regional advisor on development management to the US Agency for International Development.  In 1988, he made a change and started to work with leading Asian non-governmental organizations on identifying the root causes of development failure in the region.  In 1990, Dave founded the People-Centered Development Forum now known as the Living Economics Forum.  In 1992, Dave and his wife moved back to the United States to share with fellow Americans the lessons of his years abroad.  Shortly after returning to the U.S. he wrote his first book, “When Corporations Rule the World”, it launched in 1995 and became an international best seller.  In 1994, Dave participated in the formation of the International Forum on Globalization. Then in 1995-96, he founded the YES! Magazine, of  which he continues to serve as board chair.  Since moving back to his home state of Washington in 1998, he has written in succession, “The Post-Corporate World”; “The Great Turning Agenda for a New Economy” and “Change the Story, Change the Future”.  In 2001, he participated in founding the Business Alliance for Local Living Economics and served as a founding board member through 2012.  Dave has spent his career trying to make a difference on world economy through his teachings and writings, and has been recognized by numerous heads of countries for his endeavors.   Dave and his wife the former Fran Fisher have been married since 1962 and have two daughters Diana and Alicia.