David attended Ilford County High School and the Redbridge Music School and won a choral exhibition to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he studied music. After graduating, he trained as a chartered accountant in London with Hays Allen and joined PwC in 1990 where he became a partner in 2002. Having retired from PwC in 2018, David joined the board of Atom Bank, based in Durham, and in 2019, the board of NFU Mutual in Stratford-upon-Avon.

David joined the board of the CBSO in 2017 and has been Deputy Chairman since 2019.
In May 2021 he was appointed Chairman of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and is also currently the Deputy Chairman of ABRSM and of the Royal Northern College of Music, where he's been a governor since 2008.
David has had a particular focus on education and outreach activities. As a partner in PwC in the North West, he led the firm’s community programme forging an innovative partnership with the Royal Exchange Theatre working with a range of inner city schools and further education colleges in Manchester and received the Prince of Wales’ Regional Ambassador’s Award for his work supporting the creation of sustainable partnerships between businesses and secondary schools in Burnley.
Throughout much of his career David has continued his singing with leading amateur vocal ensembles including The Chorus of the Academy of St Martin-in-the Fields, the Tallis Chamber Choir and the Manchester Chamber Choir. He was also a lay clerk at St Margaret’s, Westminster and the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London for a number of years. He is currently a member of the CBSO Chorus and a Birmingham-based barbershop choir called MaleVox. He's also a keen amateur violinist playing regularly with the Solihull Symphony Orchestra.