Born in Chester, and educated at Watford Grammar School, Peterhouse Cambridge and through Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, David spent 25 years in the brewing industry managing new-build projects for Guinness, Whitbread and was a consultant to many other brewing companies in the UK and overseas. Old brewery sites gave opportunities for a career change to 15 years of property development.

A founding Director of Stanhope Properties, (a leading 1980s developer responsible for such London landmark projects as Broadgate and Stockley Park), David was also founder Chairman of the East London Training and Enterprise Council where he gained extensive experience negotiating with Government on employment issues and multi-billion pound budgets.

David helped pilot a Railway Act through Parliament and has wide experience of giving evidence to public inquiries, one relevant example being the “South Cambridgeshire Settlement” now known as Camborne, and has given evidence to Parliamentary Committees on employment and the environment. David has been a trustee of The Guinness Trust and was Chairman of the Guinness Trust Committee in 2007/08. He is chairman of Guinness Developments Ltd and a board member of Guinness Housing. David is chairman of the Daventry Strategic Regeneration Partnership and is a director of Northamptonshire Enterprise Ltd.