Prior to his retirement as Provost and Vice-President (Academic), Vancouver Island University (2010-2018), Dave was Dean, Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba (2001-2009) and, prior to that, a Director and Partner in Urban Systems Ltd. Before moving to BC in 1991, he was Senior Partner in Hilderman Witty and Associates, an award winning planning and landscape architecture practice based in Winnipeg and Saskatoon.
Dave was a Founding Director, Smart Growth BC, former President of the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) and founding Chair of the Canadian Healthy Communities Project. He was elected Fellow of CIP in 1998. Between 2002 and 2014, he sat on the National Capital Commission’s Advisory Committee on Planning, Design and Real Estate. He is the recipient of the Manitoba Southeast Tribal Council Recognition of Service to First Nations (2009). In 2016, he received CIP’s President’s Award “in recognition of an outstanding lifetime contribution to professional planning in Canada.” In 2019, he was awarded a Life Member of the Planning Institute of British Columbia. He is a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and an Honorary Member of the Council on Canadian Urbanism.
He is Senior Fellow Urban Design, Vancouver Island University.