David O. Renz, Ph.D.

David Renz is the Beth K. Smith/Missouri Chair in Nonprofit Leadership and the Director of the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership, an education and outreach center of the Cookingham Institute of Public Affairs, in the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  David also serves as the chair of the Cookingham Institute of Public Affairs in the Bloch School.  Dr. Renz teaches and conducts research on nonprofit and public service leadership and governance, and he helps organizations develop programs to strengthen quality, innovation, and effectiveness.  Much of Renz's work focuses on helping organizations and communities design and successfully implement major change and development initiatives.  Renz's research interests are in the areas of nonprofit and public service organization effectiveness, governance, and innovation in public service management and leadership.  He also has a strong interest in leadership and management development in the field of early education and care.  His work is published in both scholarly and practitioner-oriented publications, including Nonprofit Management and Leadership, The Nonprofit Quarterly, The Nonprofit CEO Newsletter, Strategic Governance, Leadership Quest, Public Productivity and Management Review, American Review of Public Administration, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 

David has been active in numerous national nonprofit organizations and collaboratives, including the founding and leadership of The Nonprofit Academic Centers Council and The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers.  For six years, he served as executive director of Kansas City's Clearinghouse for Midcontinent Foundations, a regional association of grantmakers serving the philanthropic and nonprofit public service community. 

David engages in occasional consulting to complement his faculty and administrative leadership roles, and in recent years has focused primarily on work with a government and nonprofit agencies, foundations, and educational and religious organizations and institutions.  His clients range from small, community-based nonprofits to foundations with billions in assets. 

Prior to joining the University of Missouri, David was Principal Consultant for Organizational Innovation and Design Associates, a Minneapolis firm providing management consulting, policy research, and organization development services to government and nonprofit organizations. While in Minnesota, he also taught and engaged in research for the Graduate School of Business and the Center for Nonprofit Management at the University of St. Thomas, and taught and advised students at Hamline University. 

During his career, David has served in several senior executive positions in state and regional government.  He served for five years as the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities, and spent six years serving as Assistant Commissioner for Administration for the State of Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.  Renz's career experience also includes major research and development projects for foundation, university, government and private sector sponsors.  David has worked with and for nonprofit and public service organizations in many capacities.  In addition to extensive consulting work, he has served on several state government advisory councils and groups, as an officer and board member for nonprofits and voluntary associations, including service on boards and advisory committees at local, regional and national levels.

David holds a Master of Arts degree in Industrial Relations, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree with a concentration in Organization Theory and Administration, both from the University of Minnesota.

David, his wife Sandra, and his son and daughter moved in 1993 to the Kansas City area from Minneapolis, Minnesota.