David holds a Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Western Australia. He has also completed a Masters Degree in Applied Science with Curtin University, researching the consolidation behaviour of the fine grained bauxite tailings, and a PhD with Melbourne University focussed on improving the sustainability of bauxite residue management.

David has held various positions with Alcoa Corporation over a 40-year career, including operational, strategic planning and research roles. More recently, he was the global refining residue governance and technical manager with responsibilities that covered Alcoa’s impoundments across all operations.

David retired from Alcoa in March of 2021, and has since been doing part time consulting, including a role with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), assisting with the development of the Global Tailings Management Institute which will oversee the implementation of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM).