It started here.......


Like many people, David wasn't sure what he would do when he left school so he turned to his enthusiasm for cars (and most things mechanical) and took up Mechanical Engineering studies.


As a young car nut, David was a keen Holden fan and enjoyed participating in club motorsport. He joined Holden Sporting Car Club of NSW, then a formible group in the NSW club motorsport scene. At the tender age of 21he became President of the club and it's here that he developed leadership and interpersonal skills. 


David initially worked as an engineering trainee for a Government body but it was like a dream come true when he was offered the opportunity to join Holden in their NSW Zone Office as a District Manager in Training. After the usual Holden "apprenticeship", he soon progressed to the role of District Manager and managed the Western Region of New South Wales (Bathurst to Bourke and all points in between).


Holden provided David with the opportunity to develop a broad background in a range of sales and marketing by working in such areas such as sales management, training, corporate sales, launch event management and Public Relations.


It was this opportunity that started David on his next step in the Australian Automotive Industry.

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Established my Career.....


After 11 years at Holden, David felt he needed a new challenge so he left the comfortable surroundings of an iconic brand and joined a fledgling independent automotive operation, Inchcape Motors Australia. 


At that time Inchcape were the Australian Distributors of many automotive brands including Subaru, Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, Peugeot, Jaguar and Proton.


David joined Inchcape just as the business was launching the SEAT brand (part of the Volkswagen Group) in the Australian market. Unfortunately, the product pricing and specification couldn't meet the challenge of the newly launched Korean brands so the decision was made to quietly kill off the SEAT brand.


David's achievements were recognised and he was promoted to management roles with the Audi and later the Volkswagen divisions. After 5 years David was given the opportunity to run one of Inchcape's newly acquired Peugeot dealerships.

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Move to Melbourne......


A rare opportunity to move to Melbourne became available when David was offered the challenge of joining Suzuki Australia as General Manager - Automobiles. Suzuki was in a process of major change after changing their distribution structure where each state had its own independent distributor. Suzuki had taken over the operations of these independent distributors and was bringing everything under one roof in Melbourne.


The early days at Suzuki were challenging with excessive stock holdings, model mix problems, volatile exchange rates and an inconsistent standard of dealers. Over time, sales and profitability improved and the viability of the business became robust.


After nearly 7 years, David decided to take an extended break to spend time with the family and project manage the build of a new home. However it wasn't long before David missed the day-to-day challenges of work so he joined Ford Motor Company in role of Sales Manager - Ford Business Centre


Unfortunately, Ford's troubles had just began and there was much uncertainty about their future and job security was unclear. David was offered a role with a contractor to Ford, MSX International, to manage their automotive consulting operation. MSX activities weren't limited to Ford as they provided business solutions to several other brands. This role was responsible for managing a team of consultants who provided a range of expert solutions and David was also responsible for business development, profit achievement and solution development.

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Broaden my horizons.....


Whilst Consulting provides variety and the opportunity to be creative, the reality is work is often volatile, so after 3 years at MSX David decided to move on. He initially looked to work for myself on selected consulting projects but an industry contact asked him to look at a motorcycle distribution business he was involved in - KYMCO Australia & NZ.


The business was in turmoil and the supervisory board was uncertain what created the problems and what was needed to move forward. After many long hours researching each aspect of the business, David was able to set a course of action to return the business to good health. He was soon appointed as the General Manager and he worked with the board to set a strategic plan. However, the owners decided to merge this business with another business they owned which effectively left David's position redundant.


He then joined Goodyear Dunlop Tyres Australia in the role of National Sales & Operations Manager - Commercial which was was responsible for Beaurepaires Commercial Tyre Network. David was keen to pursue this role as he wanted to expand his skills to include retail store management. But a change in corporate direction saw Goodyear Dunlop Tyres Australia reduce its retail activities and David's role (and that of several others) was made redundant.


Next Step.....


Consequently, David is now looking to move onto the next step with my career.  He has solid experience along with a proven track record and he would welcome any opportunity to present myself


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