Chief Economist Australia New Zealand

David has held a number of increasingly senior roles in Economics advice over the last 15 years, and has worked on over 700 economics and strategy projects, across practically every council jurisdiction in New Zealand and with around 10 different economic development agencies.

Prior to joining GHD, he was Chief Economist at Auckland Council for four and a half years, where he dealt with issues as diverse as multi-billion dollar business cases, infrastructure shortfalls, climate change policy, water shortage impacts, and policy economics. He understands the challenges facing local governments and economic development agencies across New Zealand dealing with growth and constrained funding.

Prior to Auckland Council, he worked for Westpac as Regional and Industry Economist, BRANZ (the Building and Research Association of New Zealand) as Senior Economist, and in economic consulting at PwC and BERL.

His work spans the range of strategy, economic modelling, infrastructure and policy decisions where trade-offs are made between what is often a financial cost, and intangible benefits such as better social, environmental or climate outcomes.