David left Oxford University to join Cadbury Schweppes in 1983. The promise of a graduate management training scheme that gave David the chance to try a few months in Production, Finance, Marketing and Sales in different parts of the business was compelling.

After five years of accelerated learning, from running a room in the giant Bourneville factory to trying to persuade Americans of the delights of Milk Tray, David left Cadbury’s to study for an MBA at Insead.

From there, he joined the London office of McKinsey where he did four fascinating years, consulting across a wide range of industries. David learnt a huge amount at McKinsey; including that consulting wasn’t for him long-term. Henry’s invitation to join him in 1991 to help set up Admiral was well timed and gratefully received.

Admiral launched in January 1993, with 50 staff at it’s Cardiff office, and no customers. It now has 5,000 staff in South Wales alone, and is one of the top 3 car insurers in the UK, operating under a number of brand names (Admiral, Diamond, Bell, elephant.co.uk, Confused.com).

Admiral floated on the stock market in September 2004.

David was initially responsible for Admiral’s Marketing. He took on responsibility for Pricing in 1995 and is now responsible for the UK direct insurance brands.

David married one of the other founding managers of Admiral, Heather Naylor, in 1994, and they have three children.

David & Heather set up The Waterloo Foundation charity in 2007. They each received a CBE in 2010, for their charity work, and also for David’s contribution to the insurance industry.

http://www.waterloofoundation.org.uk/AboutUs.html

David took over from Henry Engelhardt CBE, as CEO of Admiral Group Plc, in the spring of 2016.