David Slocum is the Faculty Director of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership (Steinbeis University) from October 2016 until February 2019, after which he will remain on our Board of Advisors and continue to collaborate as faculty member.  Slocum designs, leads, and teaches executive training programs, and is a certified executive coach, with a focus on leadership of the creative and media industries.  A sociologist and historian of media, Slocum’s research and teaching have focused broadly on the transformation of film, media and communication industries, the organization and leadership of creative businesses, and the education and training of creative leaders.  He also speaks regularly to academic and industry audiences on these topics.  His publications, including four books, have examined a range of cultural, historical, and industry issues in media and entertainment.  He is currently writing a history of creative leadership.

Slocum previously served as the director of specialized executive education programs at the George Washington University School of Business in Washington, D.C., where he designed and delivered offerings including the STAR EMBA program for individuals, like professional athletes, with strong personal brands, and the ‘On the Board’ fellows program to prepare senior women leaders for placement on corporate boards.  Slocum also spent ten years at New York University, as Associate Dean at the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science and teaching in the Cinema Studies Department and the Art & Public Policy Program in the NYU Tisch School of the Arts.  Additionally at NYU, he served as Director of the University-wide Center for Teaching Excellence, was co-founding director of the Diversity Studies Program, operated jointly with the University of Cape Town (UCT), and coordinated the Graduate School’s global outreach and program design and development efforts. Earlier, he directed and taught in the Graduate Media Studies Program at the New School for Social Research.

Slocum was educated at the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and New York University, where he earned a Ph.D. studying sociology and media.