Big-hearted world traveler proud to represent alumni
Board member David Turkaleski ’02, senior VP at the world’s largest insurance broker, answers questions about life and Ohio State.
Though the seed wasn’t planted here, David Turkaleski’s global mindset grew and thrived at Ohio State. This perspective has served him well throughout his career and in his current role as a senior vice president at Marsh, the world’s largest insurance broker and a leader in risk management.
“My first trip out of the country was to visit family in Macedonia, then part of the former Yugoslavia, when I was 3 years old,” says Turkaleski ’02. “But I started traveling extensively in college as part of an internship with a Poland-based oil company. I don’t want to say that’s when I developed the ‘bug’ because I had it before, but that’s when I started going to places that were less traveled.”
While helping his clients navigate a dynamic international business environment, Turkaleski has since visited more than 50 countries on five continents. Wherever he goes, he enjoys experiencing the culture and everyday life.
“People often ask about the places I’ve enjoyed most, but it really hasn’t been about the locations. It was because my wife was with me,” he says. “Being in Italy during Easter and witnessing the Stations of the Cross, and enjoying Korean barbecue and soju in Seoul, are standout moments for me because we shared these experiences.”
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What’s one of your earliest Ohio State memories?
My future wife, Jessica Bowser ’02, was one of the first people I met. I had joined the Ohio State Welcome Leader program to get to know fellow new students. I was volunteering on move-in day in Morrill Tower and pushed a big cart—we called them “elephants” because that’s what they look like—into her dorm room. I remember her distinctly because she immediately instructed me where to leave her belongings. And she is still telling me what to do today!
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How did your undergraduate experience prepare you?
Everything I ever wanted to do in college was available to me at Ohio State. You just have to figure out how to get it. In a place that’s so big, if you don’t advocate for yourself, you’re not going to be very successful. That translates to the real world.
I’m dyslexic, and that’s something Ohio State equipped me to overcome through the disability services. They helped me get through college, but these services for people with learning disabilities were not provided in elementary school. My parents had to fight for them, another early lesson in advocacy.
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Who has inspired you?
I look to my parents. When my dad dropped me off at Ohio State, he joked, “You’re not welcome home until you have your degree.” I was motivated by their vision for me, always pushing and giving me the hard truth.
They instilled good morals and the decision-making process in me and inspired me by example. After my father emigrated from Yugoslavia, he spent a year in Italy and learned Italian. When he claimed asylum in the U.S., his first job was in a Chicago steel mill—where he picked up Spanish. He would later watch “Sesame Street” to learn how to read and write in English. Now he speaks six languages.
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How does your career influence your board service?
A lot of what I do for a living translates to my volunteer work. I’ve had to put strategies and programs in place to be tactical and deliberate about achieving results. Leadership for our D.C. Alumni Club is very hands-on. You have to run it like a small business, looking at finances, marketing and “sales” to your members. Are you delivering events that they want to be part of? How do we fundraise, including for scholarships?
Serving on the Ohio State Alumni Association Board is a different way to pay forward. I share my experiences and give advice. There is a broader strategic focus. We represent more than 600,000 alumni, and serving as their voice is really rewarding.
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Tell us about being on the sidelines at the 2002 TTUN game as a photographer.
The artistic one in our relationship, Jessica, is into photography, and pursued that interest by joining the Makio yearbook staff when we were seniors. This was not appealing to me—until I realized you get football media passes to take pictures. But for THE game, these passes were limited.
Jessica was determined to get us both in. She stuck her Michigan press pass on me and covered up the team name on another press pass from a previous game. And then she just went in, past security, saying, “I’m late, I’m late.” And no one questioned her. I simply followed. In essence, we snuck onto the field for the Michigan game that year and celebrated the Buckeyes’ victory by rushing the field with 100,000 of our closest friends.
