David grew up in New York and Washington DC and graduated from Williams College with a degree in Political Science. He spent 7 years in Africa, with experience in 43 countries, working first with the Ford Foundation, and later as a commercial bush pilot. As a photojournalist, he covered some of the continent’s messier conflicts; his photographs and articles appeared in leading publications worldwide. 

Returning to the United States, David worked for several years in the film industry, but by the early 1990s found his passion and energy devoted full-time to conservation work. Among other commitments, David serves as Chairman of the Board of the St. Catherines Island Foundation, a Georgia foundation which manages the island and its conservation, scientific research, and archaeology programs.

In 2004, David and his wife Jordan founded Climate Advocates Voces Unidas (CAVU) and moved to Costa Rica as a hub for operations throughout Latin America. Together, they produced and David directed 15 community outreach films, in 9 countries, in 3 languages — a number of which are still in use in schools and broadcasting systems in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize, among others.

David also conducted hundreds of low-level aerial overflights with both NGOs and multiple government agencies in Latin America, documenting damaged watersheds and deforestation as far south as the Peruvian Amazon, and creating a comprehensive high-resolution aerial map of the Meso-American Barrier Reef System. David is a commercial/single/multi-engine/land/sea/glider/instrument rated pilot with over 5000 hours experience on four continents, and was recently nominated for the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.

In 2011, Jordan and David returned to the United States with their two young daughters. In New Mexico, David directed a multi-part video series – UnEarthed – the Real Story of Oil and Gas in New Mexico, which focused on oil & gas extraction impacts on local communities and the need to reduce methane pollution. CAVU played a key role in the methane regulatory process resulting in stringent rules applied to methane waste from oil and gas production.

A subsequent series, “Wildlife without Borders” was the centerpiece of CAVU’s years-long effort to protect critical interstate wildlife corridors; the series received 2 Emmy Awards.

In 2023, David and Jordan moved to Switzerland, to provide their children with a cultural and language perspective as part of their education to become global citizens. When not entertaining himself with CAVU’s latest challenges, David enjoys hiking, skiing, and adventures in airspace over the Alps.