DAVID APRIL

LEAD CONSULTANT
19th November 1960 - 28th July 2024

BA & STD (UWC), Masters Degree in Psychology (M.Psych, UWC) Professional Coaching Certificate (ACC, Professional Coaching Certificate, UCT GSB) Registered Psychologist with Health Professions Council of South Africa (PS0055050)

David was a consummate professional, passionate in delivery and committed to people becoming their best. As a Schuitema lead consultant, he was concerned with all project deliverables from initial engagement with prospective clients to assessing client needs, programme design, implementation and monitoring. While he services a range of industries, he developed a special interest in the Financial Services, Manufacturing and Primary industries. The latter includes Forestry, Fishing, Agriculture and Mining. He designs bespoke executive and workplace coaching programmes interventions with a strong emphasis on building the internal coaching capacity within client organisations.

David was committed to evoking excellence in others. He was a certified Professional Coaching and has served as certification panellist for the Centre for Coaching and external examiner on the MBA Coaching elective at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. He has served as Consultant/Executive coach to a range of organisations including the South African Reserve bank, BATSA, Vodacom, Chevron, Nedbank, FNB, Lonmin, Pioneer Foods, Tarsus. He has delivered coaching and leadership facilitation services in Namibia, Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire. He was supporting the development of executive coaches-in-training as external examiner on the Wits Masters in Marketing and Business Executive Coaching (MMBEC) programme.

David has worked with Schuitema as an associate since 2000 as has found deep resonance with the core thematic that underlies the Leadership model. He has since then established an enduring relationship with Schuitema, becoming a sought-after facilitator, trainer and consultant of its flagship leadership and coaching programmes in South Africa. His relationship with Schuitema has included that of Partner. One of his key internal responsibilities was the ongoing induction and skills development of new and existing Schuitema crew.

David’s career started in education where he served as subject and career specialist in the Western Cape. In 1996 he qualified as psychologist, earning his registration with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and served for three years in the Military Health Services arm of the South African Defence Force facilitating Leadership and Organisational Change Management interventions with senior officers post1994. Later he served as consultant psychologist supervising the training of intern psychologists at the Student Counseling Centre, University of the Western Cape. He has received numerous scholastic and academic accolades and was highly rated by clients. In pursuit of his interest in the academic development of people he has lectured in Organisational Behaviour at the South African College for Applied Psychology and later became a member of the institution’s Academic Board. During 2017 he launched a Cape Town business practice with a strong focus on promoting entrepreneurship among young adults.

David was married to Janice (Educational Specialist) and has three grown sons Matthew (Biokineticist), John (Environmental GIS) and Andrew (budding entrepreneur) and one granddaughter. The mature family life-stage that he currently enjoys, allows him the freedom to travel extensively on leadership conferencing in West and East Africa. He was a keen cyclist, self-taught organist and active member in his local community.