Dave is the principal of Xmplar, and has been a qualified professional editor since obtaining a Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing from the University of Southern Queensland in 2006.

He is a member of the Society of Editors (NSW), the Canberra Society of Editors and the Australian Society for Technical Communication (ASTC).

Since qualifying, Dave has, as a freelancer, provided government, academic and individual clients with scientific editing and graphics editing services. As an employee, he gained experience in web portal editing and writing with the former Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts in Canberra, and in academic report editing with the Australian Institute of Criminology.

In 2008, Dave joined Thomson Reuters in Sydney as an Editor, working on looseleaf and online legal products, and copy editing XML files with a content management system. In 2011, he was appointed a Production Editor, involving substantive editing of books for legal practitioners and students.

His strengths in scientific editing, graphics redrawing and desktop publishing of complex technical books and reports are supported by more than a decade in natural resource management as a practitioner and researcher (1994–2006). Several contracts for state governments have encompassed vegetation and biophysical assessment using remote sensing and geographic information systems, qualitative landscape modelling, catchment management and landcare group coordination—evidenced by journal and conference papers, and non-technical newsletter articles.