Clarity, conviction, and greater impact for your mission

Get the help your organization needs to bring clarity, conviction, and greater impact to your work.
Doing good in the world is hard. Delivering on your mission is hard. Doing it sustainably and at your organization’s full potential is even harder.

David Hobbet and Yesler Partners support mission-driven organizations and leaders to reach their full potential. We bring to clients over two decades of social sector strategy consulting and executive leadership experience with leading philanthropies, universities, and other social sector organizations.

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How We Help

Our Services

Social Sector Strategy and Program Design
Develop clear, evidence-based strategies that drive measurable mission impact.
Growth Transformation
Design and implement change programs that accelerate sustainable growth.
Organizational Design and Talent Strategy
Build structures and teams that support your long-term vision.
Program Evaluation
Assess outcomes, identify opportunities, and refine for greater effectiveness.
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Testimonials

From Our Partners

Working with David Hobbet gave our team the clarity, alignment, and momentum that we needed—when we most needed it. He brought decades of leadership and organizational experience to the table—but more importantly, he applied that experience with humility and precision to our unique problems and potential. We’ve been so impressed with David’s results that we continue to work with him to tackle our high-priority challenges and opportunities.
Kara Powell, PhD
Chief of Leadership Formation at Fuller Seminary
I worked extensively with David to refresh the strategy for the Gates Foundation’s Inclusive Financial Systems team. David helped our team identify clear, measurable goals, design a series of mutually-reinforcing interventions to advance those goals, and establish a team org structure to design and implement those interventions. Throughout the process, David displayed tremendous creativity, strategic acumen, and diplomatic finesse. The strategy was enthusiastically approved by foundation leadership and was widely recognized across the organization as an exemplar of a clear, well-designed strategy. I would recommend David and his team without hesitation.
Daniel Radcliffe
Deputy Director, Program Advocacy and Communications – The Gates Foundation
David is an invaluable consulting partner for our work at Pinetops Foundation. We work with David to help address the biggest opportunities and questions facing our foundation. His proven social sector leadership and strategic, data-driven support has helped shape Pinetop’s investment approach and impact across multiple program areas.
Joshua Crossman
CEO & board member – the Pinetops Foundation
David is an insightful and thoughtful leader who is equally adept at analyzing enrollment analytics and honoring the distinctive mission of a faith-based institution. He understands the trends facing higher education, cares deeply about actual impact, and brings integrity and purpose to all of his client work.
Erin Hoffmann Harding
Vice President for Strategy and Legal Affairs and Chief of Staff, Saint Mary's College
Former Expert Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company
Former Vice President for Student Affairs, University of Notre Dame
We worked with David on a key strategic pillar of our work, and he was a fantastic partner—clear in his thinking, deeply professional, and highly attuned to our goals. His ability to bring structure and insight to complex questions made a real difference. I’d work with him again without hesitation.
John Cunningham
Director, Public Engagement – The John Templeton Foundation
Working with David Hobbet fundamentally reshaped how I think about strategy and impact. He brings the rare ability to listen deeply, ask the right question at the right time, and gently steer conversations toward clarity and alignment. What began as an exploratory conversation quickly became the foundation for an entirely new framework, one that now shapes how we define success, allocate resources, and measure outcomes across our initiatives. David is not just smart (he is); he’s also wise, collaborative, and deeply invested in helping leaders do work that matters.
Kimberly Thornbury
VP of Programs and Partnerships – M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
Our needs required a unicorn with experience in higher education, non-profit leadership, product management, and strategic planning--all bundled together with the highest levels of personal integrity and professional drive. David has fit the bill, and then some! We hoped he would help us take two or three significant steps forward in our most complex and highest-potential initiatives, and he quickly helped us take four or five sustainable steps. I highly recommend David for any organization or leader seeking to take the next step toward full potential.
Jake Mulder
Executive Director, FULLER Equip
Senior Advisor, TENx10 Collaboration and Fuller Youth Institute
Working with David is a gift. He’s a creative problem solver who challenges assumptions with clarity and care. He listens deeply, and brings both imagination and trustworthiness to every conversation.
Bethany Jenkins
Vice President of Media – The Veritas Forum
David is a deeply-trusted partner for the Pinetops Foundation. He understands the real-world realities of investing for positive social change and his humble, listening-first approach brings clarity to our work.
Anne Crossman
board member – the Pinetops Foundation
Founding Partner
David Hobbet – A Trusted Partner to Mission-Driven Leaders

David Hobbet brings more than twenty years of experience guiding philanthropies, universities, and social ventures through pivotal moments of change.

As a former Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company and Executive Director of The Veritas Forum, he has led strategy, growth, and organizational transformations that deliver lasting results.

Today, through Yesler Partners, David helps leaders bring clarity, conviction, and measurable impact to the work that matters most.

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Reach out to get increased clarity and conviction for your mission, team, and work