David is the epitome of a carry-on-only traveler: low-key, light on flash, and always ready for the next adventure. True to form, he didn’t even mention until the final five minutes of his hour-long interview that his former band once opened for The Roots, CeeLo Green, and SOJA on various mid-atlantic tours. We would have led with that, but what can we say, we don’t have David’s restraint.

After a childhood spent moving from Iowa to Illinois to Texas to Maryland and back again, David’s family put down roots in the Greater Boston area when he was 13, which by Bostonian standards still makes him the “new kid.” He later headed south for law school, earning his J.D. at Howard University, drawn to its civil rights legacy and global perspective. A summer in Cape Town, studying under the Honourable Zak Yacoob (former Justice of South Africa’s Constitutional Court), deepened his passion for international law and justice reform.

David’s first post-law school venture combined three of our favorite things: startups, travel, and high quality food. He co-founded a superfood distribution company that sourced spirulina and quinoa from volcanic-soil farms in Costa Rica, handling everything from import/export and supply chain logistics to, as is often the case for founders of small startups, all of the hiring. After an exit, he realized hiring had been one of his favorite parts of the job, and set out to make it the focus of whatever came next. 

He’s now ten years into his legal recruiting career, which began with helping to launch the legal division of a boutique New England-based agency. He then moved on to a national search firm before joining Whistler. A longtime political consultant, he’s worked on presidential and local campaigns alike, only backing candidates he believes in – a philosophy that also guides his approach to recruiting. 

When he’s not placing attorneys, David’s probably paddleboarding on Cable Beach in New Hampshire or traveling through South America and Southeast Asia (with only a carry-on, of course). His travel philosophy echoes Whistler’s own “just take the meeting” mindset: “Even if you don't know why you want to go somewhere, just go—it's always going to be rewarding.”

Favorite Kevin Bacon movie:

“I suppose it would be ‘Mystic River’ - nobody does miserable quite like Kevin Bacon.”

Favorite pizza topping:

"I always go for the Specialty Pizza with contradictory ingredients that nobody would ever want to eat.”

If you got to pick, what would your drag name be?

“Neapolitan Dynamite”