Zachary Morowitz, Founder & Principal

Understanding and teaching the techniques by which the most successful CEOs deliver exceptional performance has been a driving force in my career for more than twenty years.

While earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, I studied the psychology of leadership and the exercise of power in the ancient and modern worlds.

After several years as a writer and teacher, in 1988 I joined New Science Associates, a research and consulting firm. At New Science I advanced rapidly to become Chief Operating Officer in 1992, reporting to the CEO and responsible for company operations worldwide.

After assisting with the sale of New Science to Gartner in 1993, I joined Gartner in business development, where I executed the company’s acquisition strategy in Europe and the United States. During the next four years, I directed the successful purchase and integration of five companies in the US, Germany and Italy, representing $95 million of investment.

It was during this period that my passion for understanding the essence of exceptional CEO performance really deepened. My work with scores of CEOs while on the acquisition trail provided a unique laboratory in which to observe and identify the practices that most consistently drove successful company performance. While working as a mentor and coach to senior leaders of companies that Gartner acquired, I put those principles to work. In addition, as a Gartner senior executive and speechwriter for the CEO during a period of phenomenal growth for the company, I had a birds-eye view of a seasoned, powerful CEO at the top of his game, and the decisive impact it had on company performance.

In 1997 I returned to an operating role as head of Gartner’s global conference and exhibits business unit. In that position, I was able to productively apply my principles of successful leadership performance, doubling the unit’s revenue from $25 million to more than $50 million in only two years. Key to my success was the development of Gartner Symposium into an industry-leading event keynoted by such notables as Bill Gates, Meg Whitman and Michael Dell.

In 1999 I became responsible for Gartner’s strategy, corporate communications and organizational development. Reporting to the CEO, I directed a broad portfolio of activities that supported the growth and profitability of a nearly $1 billion public company. In 2002, I was promoted to Executive Vice President and became a corporate officer. I attended the 2003 Microsoft CEO Summit by special invitation of Microsoft.

After leaving Gartner in 2004, I founded CEO Performance Partners, a consulting practice that helps CEOs and other corporate leaders understand and master the levers that drive exceptional performance.