David Schonthal is a Clinical Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management where he teaches courses in new venture creation and business model design.  He also serves as the Director of Kellogg’s Zell Scholars program – a selective venture accelerator program designed to help student-entrepreneurs successfully launch new businesses.

In addition to his role at Kellogg, David is also a leader in the Business Design practice at global innovation and design consultancy, IDEO, where he has helped develop initiatives such as the Startup-in-Residence program as well as other offers and approaches around venture design and corporate entrepreneurship.

David was previously a Co-Founder of Fusion Ventures, an investment and advisory firm focused on growing technology startups in the early-stages of their development. He was also formerly Director of Strategy and Venture Development at Tavistock Life Sciences; a private investment firm based in San Diego, CA., and has held numerous leadership positions at startups in the technology and life sciences sectors.

David began his career as a management consultant with Andersen, Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers in both the United States and United Kingdom where he specialized in international growth strategy and e-commerce.

He serves as a member of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship council, ChicagoNext and is the Co-Founder of MATTER, a co-working and innovation center located in downtown Chicago focused on catalyzing and supporting healthcare entrepreneurship.

David has served as an advisor to the State of Illinois’s Invest Illinois Venture Capital Fund and mentors with several startup accelerators and incubators throughout the United States, including TechStars, CONNECT, San Diego Sports Innovators (SDSI), and Chicago Innovation Mentors.

He earned his MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his B.A. in International Relations from Boston University.