David is a Fellow of IChemE and a Fellow of New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology. Until late 2018, he was owner/MD of PDV Consultants (which he founded in 1991) - a consultancy service to the food, dairy and bioscience industries in the Asia Pacific region, the Americas, and UK.

He served on the board of IChemE in New Zealand for six years and was chair, 2010-2012; was a co-opted member of Council, 2014-2016; served on the industry advisory boards for two New Zealand Universities; received the Council Medal in 2013 (awarded annually for exceptional service to the institution on special projects); and was awarded the Chemeca Medal in 2018.