Dave began his career in the Silicon Valley at Hewlett Packard designing computer equipment and software. Joining the thin client company Wyse as the 20th employee, he participated in its growth to over 4200 employees within two years, eventually running the entire engineering, customer service and technical publications departments.  He also helped them start a new business in communication equipment.  During this period, he learned about wine and bought his first vineyard, in Geyserville, CA. Buying a second vineyard, in Amity Oregon, led to him joining Tektronix, the largest high tech firm in Oregon at the time. There he oversaw the development of distributed graphics X-Windows terminals and the first digital video recorder released for commercial purposes. His vineyards connected him to producers such at Mondavi, Opus One, Benziger, J. Christopher and Dr. Loosen and stimulated his interest in wine collecting. He released his own wine under the Parker Family Vineyards label for several years.

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In 1998 he entered wine full time, founding Brentwood Wine Company, the first continuous licensed rare wine internet-only auction house.  In 2002 he purchased the data company Wine Market Journal and founded Benchmark Wine Group in Napa, CA.  Licensed as an importer, distributor and retailer, Benchmark quickly outgrew Brentwood and is now the largest retailer/distributor dedicated solely to rare, back vintage and small production ultra-high-quality wines. With expansion into Washington, DC in 2022, the company services the eastern part of the country as fully as the west and also deals in rare and collectable spirits. They directly import and distribute top brands and products not otherwise well represented in the US and maintain the largest standing stock of rare wine in the United States.  Their customer base consists of high net worth collectors, Michelin starred restaurants, top walk-in wine shops and Asian brokers.

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Dave is President of the National Association of Wine Retailers, which strives to expand free trade of wine in the United States. He is also a member of The Renaissance Weekend idea group and The Family Club. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Princeton University and a Master of Science and Engineering in Computer Engineering from Stanford University.

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