Education

Biography

Dave is a proud Aggie who thoroughly enjoyed his student experience at USU. He was a student body vice president and competed for the USU Track Team.

Dave began his professional career in Washington, DC, with the Office of Senator Orrin Hatch, where he put to good use the writing and analysis skills he’d learned during graduate school. He also learned important lessons in representative democracy, enacting legislation, and the role of personal relationships in policymaking.

Dave moved to the private sector to work for a large trade association, where he helped found and operationalize a new line of business. Within two years, the program grew to include customers in over 100 countries. Seeking a new challenge, Dave moved internally to become the association’s futurist. His work was published widely and he was a sought-after public speaker.

Dave was recruited by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in the Fall of 2002 where he served as the director of national operations, responsible for all external relations as well as strategic planning for a sub-component of the OSD. He also served as the Chief Administrative Officer for a corporate board of advisors to the Secretary of Defense. He was deployed to Iraq in the Summer of 2003, and was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence upon his departure in December of 2008.

After 15 years in the DC area, Dave and his wife, who is also an Aggie, broke free of Potomac Fever to move back home. They now reside in Logan with their two daughters.