Vocationally, I am a civil engineer, graduating from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Sci
ence in Civil Engineering in 1978. Following graduation, I worked three years in consulting in Minnesota and three years in a developing nation of southern Africa as a water resources engineer.
In 1984, I returned to Kansas and joined the staff of the Division of Water Resources (DWR), Kansas Department of Agriculture where I have been since. I earned a Master of Science in Water Resources Engineering in 1991, also from the University of Kansas.
From 1992 until 2007, I led our technical team working on matters related to Kansas’ interstate water issues, primarily involving disputes over the Republican, Arkansas and Missouri rivers.
In June 2007 I was asked to serve as acting chief engineer when our chief engineer of 24 years retired. During November 2007, I was appointed the permanent David chief engineer. I am only the fifth chief engineer to serve Kansas since the division’s inception in 1927. See http://www.ksda.gov/dwr/ for more information on the work of DWR.
I live with my wife of 30 years, Cathy, in Lawrence, Kansas. Two of our daughters graduated from college in 2007 with Betsy teaching Kindergarten in the Philippines and Amy teaching elementary music in Topeka schools. Our third daughter Megan graduated from high school, also in 2007 and is studying music at Washburn University.
