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Don Carlson currently consults with clients on new business launches, negotiation skills, strategy development, and leadership training. He works with groups such as the New York Private Equity Network, the Enterprise Foundation, and the Gerson Lehrman Group to conduct negotiation skills seminars. He also runs strategic off-sites for companies and institutions intending to re-calibrate their mission or strategic direction. In addition, he is consulting with several firms on new business launches in software, investigative research services, and renewable energy. Don has long been an “angel round” investor in the renewable energy sector, with significant experience in both wind and solar power.
Until recently Don led the financial service practice for Axiom Legal, an entrepreneurial business that is seeking to define the new category of “onsite counsel.” Axiom recruits highly qualified attorneys and “seconds” them out to large corporate law departments to meet current legal resource needs. During Don’s tenure at Axiom, the financial services practice expanded its client relationships to include 8 of the 10 largest investment banks and nearly tripled in size to 85 lawyers and a $26 million revenue run rate.
Don was previously chief executive officer of Business Intelligence Advisors, Inc., a company built around the idea that skills from the intelligence community could be deployed effectively on behalf of portfolio managers, private equity investors, and high net worth families. BIA’s intelligence experts came primarily from the CIA and the Secret Service, focusing on detecting deception, conducting strategic interviews, and eliciting information from hostile or deceptive subjects. Much of BIA’s revenue came from training clients to use these skills.
Prior to leading BIA, Don spent five years at Goldman Sachs. He joined the firm in September 2000 as Chief Knowledge Officer for the Investment Banking Division, where he led a global group of 45 knowledge management professionals. In November 2003, Don moved to a new role as chief of staff for the legal division, reporting directly to the General Counsel of the firm and responsible for the financial, technological, and operational aspects of the 500-person Legal Division. Through his five years at Goldman Sachs, Don was also a frequent teacher of leadership and negotiation seminars for the firm’s executive education program.
Don came to Goldman Sachs from the Corporate Executive Board (Nasdaq: EXBD), a cross-industry best practices research firm in Washington, D.C. As the managing director heading new business development, Don was the steward of the firm’s growth strategy during the period following its public offering in 1999. He launched several new businesses serving the strategic research needs of senior executives at Fortune 1000 firms, including the Marketing Leadership Council, a membership comprised of the chief marketing officers of 150 of the world’s leading branded goods companies, the Operations Management Council, and the General Counsel Roundtable. Don was also a frequent speaker and teacher at annual retreats for CEB member executives.
Prior to getting into the business research sector, Don was a trial lawyer at Williams & Connolly, a leading Washington, D.C. law firm, for five years. His practice included a varied mix of criminal defense, bioethics, medical malpractice, and securities fraud litigation.
From 1990-1992 Don was a professor at Williams College, where he served as Chairman of the interdisciplinary Program in Political Economy and held joint appointments in economics and environmental studies. He was responsible for developing and teaching more than a dozen courses in public policy, environmental law, negotiation skills, and the moral foundations of market economies. While teaching at Williams, Don also developed and led a public policy orientation seminar for newly elected members of the Massachusetts state legislature, and he published a widely-cited article in the Oregon Law Review on the Justice Department’s antitrust prosecution against colleges and universities who worked collaboratively to fix financial aid awards.
After graduating from law school, Don served as legislative director and chief counsel for Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II during Mr. Kennedy’s first two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Don was directly responsible for budgetary, financial, environmental, trade, civil rights, banking, housing, and education issues for Mr. Kennedy. Don also clerked with the Honorable Bruce Marshall Selya on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Don earned his B.A. in Political Economy from Williams College in 1983, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1986, where he specialized in negotiation theory and worked extensively with the Harvard Negotiation Project. |
