David van der Leer is a forecaster, educator, moderator, researcher, strategist, and writer. His passion is for reinventing institutions and public spaces of yesterday, and dreaming up the most inspirational institutions of tomorrow, through excellent design and interdisciplinary programs.

David is Principal of DVDL, a visitor experience strategy agency that transforms spaces and organizations by pairing innovative program mixes with design and cultural interventions. His focus is on visitor experience and public engagement in the work he undertakes with museums, public spaces, commercial real estate, and philanthropic initiatives, creating projects that are programmatically and architecturally ambitious and socially responsive.

He was formerly Executive Director of the Van Alen Institute and led the Guggenheim Museum’s Architecture and Urban Studies programme.