Originally from the states, Dave attended the University of New Brunswick in Canada. Moving to Victoria, Canada in 1999, Dave trained under Mike Spracklen with the Canadian National Team Training Squad for three years. Continuing under Spracklen's guidance, Dave became a student at the National Coaching Institution.

From 1993-1996, Dave worked at the club level coaching and managing programs which grew from 80 members to nearly 2000 members. With this success, he was brought on as Director of Administration for a foundation to foster and promote the development of other rowing clubs in the community.

Dave coached the Southport School in Australia for a year before returning to the states to begin working for Vespoli in September 2003.