by Dan Buckmaster
Dan Buckmaster doesn’t just believe in creative problem solving—he lives it. An engineer by training and an entrepreneur by spirit, Dan is currently Sr. Manager of Research and Development at ACV Auctions, an online vehicle marketplace revolutionizing how used cars are appraised and sold. But before joining ACV, Dan spent nearly eight years running his own mechanical engineering design firm—one that stood out not for flashy tech, but for its mindset.
“We hired younger engineers, right out of school,” Dan says. “I didn’t want people set in their ways. I wanted people who didn’t know how to solve a problem yet—because they’d find new ways to do it.”
Serious creativity helped me keep jobs for my team. That’s ROI.
That curiosity-led mindset is exactly what drew Dan to the Creative Education Foundation. Introduced to CEF through a former employee, Dan saw immediate impact when that employee returned from the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) Conference with new tools and fresh energy.
“He brought back brainstorming tools and facilitation methods we started using right away,” Dan recalls. “It was an aha moment for me. I realized this was what I’d been trying to build on my own—and here it was, fully formed.”
Problem Solving With Intention
Soon after, Dan joined the CEF board. “It all clicked,” he says. “Seeing the effect on our business, I knew I wanted to be part of this community.”
That community—and the Creative Problem Solving process—became Dan’s secret superpower during one of the toughest periods of his professional life. When the future of the business felt in flux, Dan didn’t panic. He problem-solved.
“I’d lock myself in my office, pull out the sticky notes, and flip through the CPS guide,” Dan says. “It didn’t always give me the answer, but it gave me two or three new steps I could take. And that was always enough to keep moving forward.”
That mindset—solving one problem at a time—is what Dan says helped him navigate that period and create stability for his team. “Creative Problem Solving helped me keep jobs for my team,” he says. “That’s ROI.”
Creativity as a Leadership Skill
Now, at ACV Auctions, Dan continues to bring Creative Problem Solving to everything from roadmap planning to team dynamics.
“When things get foggy or challenging, I have a reflex now: go into problem-solving mode,” he says. “Sometimes I even ask ChatGPT to walk me through a CPS session!”
Dan sees creativity not as artistry, but as a mindset shift. “To me, creativity is thinking differently—getting out of the rut,” he says. “It’s not about painting or making art. It’s about finding new ways to do what you’ve always done.”
And he’s not alone in that belief. “CPS is one of the most important skills for the future,” Dan says. “As AI evolves, the things it can’t do—collaborate, reframe problems, bring empathy to solutions—those are the skills we’ll need most.”
Advice From a Reluctant Salesperson
“The power of Creative Problem Solving lies in its flexibility,” Dan says. “CPS meets you where you are, whether you’re leading a company, teaching a class, or solving a personal challenge. It’s not a one-size-fits-all formula; it’s a framework that adapts to how you think, helping anyone turn uncertainty into clarity and ideas into action.”
He offers one analogy: “A sports car is useless if you don’t know how to drive it. CPS teaches you how to drive your brain—how to intentionally approach problems and get results.”
Dan’s call to action is simple: “You’re going to face challenges. Why not learn from people who’ve figured out better ways to tackle them?”
With creativity, persistence, and a little help from the CEF community, Dan Buckmaster is proving that serious challenges deserve serious creativity—and better yet, they deserve to be solved.