David leads and advises on complex innovation and design projects with industry and national governments. He has worked in the creative industries for 25 years and is a former Chief Executive of the UK Design Council, which he successfully merged with CABE.
David is Chairman of the leading retail and brand consultancy Caulder Moore and principal of the strategic design and innovation consultancy David Kester & Associates (DK&A), which is leading a design vision project for the government infrastructure project, High Speed 2.
He is Principal of David Kester & Associates since january 2014.
Over a 10-year period at the Design Council he reinvented this national institution and is well known for pioneering new ways to turn social challenges into innovation and enterprise. With the Department of Health, this included fast-paced engagement with front-line staff, patients and the private sector to bring life-changing products and services to market in areas such as dementia, patient dignity and infection control.
David has served as advisor and contributor to three UK governments, developing and supporting practical design policy for the Treasury, and departments of Business, Education, Communities, Health and Culture. He has run design policy projects including orchestrating the 2005 Cox Review to HM Treasury and the design component of the Coalition Growth Strategy.
Over the last year, David has been working internationally in New Zealand, Asia and Europe, where he is also in demand as a commentator and speaker. He is an Ambassador and Co-Moderator of the Dutch design conference What Design Can Do, the UK partner for the DesignThinkers Academy pioneering Service Design Bootcamps, and an Honorary Professor of Warwick Business School, where he helped found a Behavioural Design Lab, and Honorary Fellow at the Royal College of Art.
