David worked for Shell from 1968 to 1996. He worked in Australia,Holland and Sweden .His last role was as head of Shell’s Oil Products business in Europe. In 1966, he joined British Gas as CEO designate of BGplc. He steered BG to a substantial uplift in performance. He retired in 2000 following the successful demerger of Lattice plc. In 2001,David joined mmo2 as executive Chairman. He retired in 2004 and David became the first Executive Chairman of HM Revenue & Customs. He stood down from this role in 2006 to concentrate on service transformation in the public sector. He retired from these roles in 2009.
David has chaired Business in the Community and a variety of professional bodies.