David is currently a second year PhD student and a research assistant at the School of public Affairs (SPA), University of Colorado Denver (UCD). He received a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree through the Accelerated Master of Public Administration program at the SPA in 2010. He served first as an intern, and subsequently as a consultant, for the special district management firm Circuit Rider of Colorado, LLC, in Denver, Colorado. He has worked in a variety of capacities for Outward Bound Wilderness, primarily as a backpacking, mountaineering, and rock climbing instructor, and as a course advisor. He designed and helped implement the Adventure Education Program at Renaissance Elementary School in Castle Rock, CO, and trained Renaissance staff in adventure education principles and practice. He received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Sociology and a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, as well as a minor in Spanish, from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Prior to his undergraduate studies, David lived in Cochabamba, Bolivia, for ten months. During this time, he studied Spanish for four months and then lived and worked in an orphanage for six months. His nonacademic pursuits include rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, fly fishing, fly tying, cycling, alpine skiing, and cross-country skiing.