Upon leaving school David joined the workforce initially at Kelvinator and then Johnson & Johnson where he rose from Cadet Sales Representative to National Sales Manager (based in Sydney) over a period of 18 years. During that time he served as secretary of the PAOC Sydney Branch. David returned to Adelaide in 1977 and joined the Adelaide based company Stratco and was involved in the continued growth of this company over a period of 24 years acting as General Manager for the last 15 years until retiring in 2001.
In retirement David was keen to become involved with community organisations. He was elected to the board of the Arthritis Foundation of SA in 2001 and became President in 2002, holding the position for ten years during which he represented SA on the Arthritis Foundation of Australia board and has been Vice President of this organisation since 2009. In 2001 he joined the Rotary Club of Adelaide becoming secretary in 2006 and is an active supporter of many of its activities.