David Ibanez

David Ibanez spent more than twenty years becoming a highly effective operator in manufacturing, running companies as CEO, President, COO, and VP of Operations, participating in and leading seven M&A transactions, and scaling businesses from $10 million to $70 million in revenue. By every external measure, it was working. Except one.

For most of that career, the relentless drive that made David exceptional was quietly costing him his health and the life he wanted outside of work. Many high performing leaders make that tradeoff without ever consciously choosing it. About two years ago, David chose differently.

He stepped back, rebuilt his health, and made a deliberate move into executive consulting. Not to walk away from building. To do it differently, for other people, without the cost he had paid himself.

That perspective is what makes him a different kind of guide.

David spent over two decades inside manufacturing and operations, not studying them from the outside. He knows what it takes to scale a production environment, integrate an acquisition without losing momentum, build teams that actually perform, and create the operational infrastructure that makes growth sustainable rather than chaotic. Having led or served on the due diligence and post close integration teams for seven M&A transactions, he is one of the few guides who can walk a leadership team through the full operational complexity of a deal and the growth that has to follow.

Today, as a Partner and Business Guide at Next Level Growth, David works with owners and executives who want both: a strong return on their investment in the business and a meaningful return on life outside of it. He brings the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations® framework, direct operating experience, and a hard-earned sense of what actually matters to help leaders build elite organizations without sacrificing everything else to get there.

David lives in North Scottsdale, Arizona, with his wife Ashley and their two children, Addison and Mason. Outside of work, he stays committed to his health and shows up at every rink and every game for Addison’s figure skating and Mason’s hockey, with the same commitment he once reserved only for the job.