IDEAS - Key Persons

David Burk is a successful entrepreneur, executive, business builder, idea generator and technology strategist. Companies Mr. Burk has founded have garnered many awards for product, service, business and culture excellence. As a result, Mr. Burk was named one of the top 100 most inspirational graduates in the 75-year history of the UCLA Anderson School of Business. Mr. Burk's career began in traditional advertising with Dailey and Associates Advertising (American Honda) and Young & Rubicam (Nissin Cup O' Noodles). After receiving his UCLA Anderson MBA, Mr. Burk was founding marketing director for Wild Packets, a leading developer of hardware and software solutions that drive network performance, enabling organizations of all sizes to analyze, troubleshoot, optimize, and secure their wired and wireless networks. WildPackets products are sold in over 60 countries and deployed in all industrial sectors. Customers include Boeing, Chrysler, Fidelity, Motorola, Nationwide, and over 80 percent of the Fortune 1000. Wild Packets has been recognized for technology product excellence, including Editor's Best, Product of the Year and Finalist from Network World, Network Computing, Internet Telephony, IDG TechWorld, and others. Mr. Burk then founded Clear Ink, one of the earliest interactive marketing firms, and grew it a regional integrated marketing communications leader with $150 million in capitalized billings. From 1995-2009, Clear Ink attained the following rankings, some of them multiple times over the years: Inc. 500, Top 5 agency headquartered in the SF Bay Area, Top 150 Fastest Growing Privately Held Bay Area companies, 84 in the Top 100 U.S. Agency Brands by U.S. Gross Income (Ad Age), 66 in the Top 100 Interactive Agencies (AdWeek). Clear Ink created award-winning programs and campaigns for clients such as Autodesk, Salesforce.com, Pacific Bell Wireless, Cisco Systems, John Muir Health, Hewlett Packard, Restoration Hardware, PeopleSoft/Oracle, Jelly Belly Candy Company, and 21st Century Insurance. In 2009, Mr. Burk joined Fleishman-Hillard (an Omnicom company), one of the largest communications agencies in the world, where he has created from scratch an integrated a multi-million dollar digital strategy and Integrated marketing practice across five offices. Offerings of this practice include web application design and implementation, social media programs and campaigns, and multimedia creative services. Clients at FH include Visa, Electronic Arts, AT&T, AT&T Interactive, Ventyx and Hyatt. Mr. Burk is an active early-stage investor and has been recognized in a variety of ways, including political appointments, industry group leadership positions and more. Some of these accolades include: Governor-at-Large, Northern California, American Association of Advertising Agencies Judge, American Advertising Federation Annual University Marketing and Advertising Planning Contest Judge, Web Marketing Awards Judge, WOMMY Awards (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) Political Appointee, City of Berkeley Task Force on Telecommunications, District 2 Political Appointee, City of Berkeley Public Works Commissioner, District 5 Co-Founder, The Clear Ink Foundation Member, Technical Advisory Board, ScoreRevolution Member, The Internet Oldtimers Foundation Member, "The Network - Who's Who in the Internet Economy," Industry Standard TED Invitee, since 1999 Mr. Burk earned a B.A. degree in anthropology, cum laude, from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.