David served a fairly conventional indentured apprenticeship in mechanical engineering and, after a brief stint at the Atomic Energy Authority at Cullum Laboratories, started his career in earnest at Brunel Cases in 1981, in a technical sales position. Eventually becoming Group Sales Director, it is here that David met Charles Eatwell, his manager at the time, with whom he went on to found Great Western Packaging in 1990.
David subsequently oversaw the growth of the business through the acquisitions of Corstat Containers in 2003 and Eastman Packaging in 2006. David was also responsible for leading the rebrand of the company to GWP Group in 2009.
David’s exceptional knowledge of the corrugated packaging market, business management and entrepreneurship also saw him feature extensively on mainstream media. This includes appearances on BBC 2, BBC Points West, BBC Radio 4 (Mishal Husain), BBC Today programme (Nick Robinson) and even Radio France.
Outside of work, David has always enjoyed challenging himself. He cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2012, and in 2017 sailed his yacht around the world (covering around 36,000 miles).
David retired from his position as CEO following GWP’s sale to Macfarlane Group PLC in 2021.
