Looking to learn a little more about David Champagne? Check out his bio here and read on to find out what drives and entertains our President and CEO.
I really believe in work-life balance. I think though that my “play” is not relaxed [laughs].
I once had a boss tell me I’m the most competitive person he’s ever met… I looked at him and said, I don’t know why you would say that…! But I play hard, so when I’m not working I’m usually on a bike, skis, running, and golfing. The people I hang out with are pretty competitive too, so it’s always pushing yourself. I like to live on the edge, so I like to push myself when I’m not at work - and when I’m at work.
I like to watch movies, I like to read. I’m always reading a book, constantly. I got into that habit when I used to travel all over the world and be stuck in airplanes, airports, and hotels. I probably have thousands of books on my iPhone. I’ve got a huge library.
Two of my favorite books are Leading Change by John Kotter, which is a fantastic book. One of the things I had to do in my career, especially my previous career was change management and organizational design. Leading Change is a bible for me, I've used it over and over and I’ve given it to several people who’ve worked for me over the years.
Another one is Crucial Conversations. It’s a fantastic book and it gives examples of how to have difficult conversations with your spouse, with your boss… a whole bunch of different ranges of examples. And it’s so good because there are so many different times in your work life or otherwise where you run into a situation where you need to have a hard conversation and you don’t want it to go badly!
Those are just two books that I have used many times over the years.
I love The Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day-Lewis, I think that’s a fantastic movie and I’ve loved that for years. And I love The Family Man, which is about an individual who is a big-time business person and thinks what if I had married my high school sweetheart? So he goes from a Wall Street type to a tire salesman. He learns the value of family versus this high-end career. I love both of those movies.
I’d have two dream vacations. One is a very selfish one, which would be that I’d love to bike across the West. Either mountain biking or road biking or both. Go on a two-month trip, just, go on a bike. I’d love to do that and I plan to do it someday.
The second one is that now my children are adults, I’d love to rent a big Airbnb or Vrbo on a beach somewhere for a week or two and just bring them all in and hang out as a family.
So I will do both of those in my lifetime. I’ve traveled a lot around the world in my previous job, and I’ve seen a lot of areas, so to me, it’s more about family and experiences.
A professional athlete. I ran for Reebok after college at a professional level, then I hurt my knee. Three knee surgeries kind of did me in there. If you know running, you’re on a fine line where you’re this close to injury or not, and that kind of breaks or makes your career. But I would love to be a professional athlete… What sport… it wouldn’t matter! I love being competitive, sign me up.
I’ve been asked this question before and I usually lead it with that I’m not a native Plattsburghian. I was born in Utica. My parents came from here and moved away for a job, and they moved back after I was born. So I’ve lived most of my life here, but I’m not a native, which may surprise some people.
Also… I love sad songs. My wife makes fun of me for it all the time. It’s not that I’m sad or depressed, I just connect to them, I don’t know what it is, but they actually inspire me. I’m very sentimental as a person, which maybe doesn’t come off right away either, but I am. I just love sad music! I don’t know why, I just connect to it.
Hopefully good things…! Loyal, daring, and willing to take on a challenge. Most of the people I ski with are better skiers than me and mountain bikers, there’s some pretty extreme stuff we do, but I’ll try anything and I’m open to new challenges.
Loyal, and trustworthy. I love to have fun. I do have a sense of humor, and I like joking around. If you hang out with me… if you play golf with me and make a bad shot - guess who’s laughing? I can dish it out but I can take it, too.
I have great friends and I try to be loyal to them and respectful to them with their lives and what they’re going through, and supportive.
We hope you enjoyed getting to know some interesting facts about our President and CEO. We are proud to have such a dedicated, driven, and inspiring leader as David at the helm of our organization.
