David Gwyther is a highly respected executive and member of the community, with global experience gained through a distinguished military career and 10 years in the energy and oil and gas industry.
David’s trained as a Navy ship’s watch-keeping officer before sub specialising as a pilot. He graduated dux of his pilot’s course and helicopter conversions. David was Navy’s Instructor of the Year in 1993. David held many mid and senior level management positions in aviation safety, long range strategic analysis, whole of enterprise planning, career management, operations, airworthiness, project management and logistic support. Consistently progressing ahead of his peers, he held leadership roles at: Garden Island dockyard, the Navy’s Sea King helicopter squadron during operations in Timor and the Pacific, the Defence aviation security group for the Sydney Olympics and the Navy’s Aviation Group. David’s final appointment was Commander Northern Command leading 1000 people and deploying Navy, Army and Air Force assets on northern operations, including maritime security liaison with Indonesia and Timor Leste. As the senior ADF Officer NT he was accountable for whole of Defence coordination and engagement with Government, industry and the community.
David joined INPEX as the Deputy General Manager Darwin in 2011. He played a key role working collaboratively and with influence across the INPEX and Ichthys Project teams, Government, business and the community to assure the success of the US$40BN Ichthys LNG Project. He focused on safety, marine, air, and road operations, agreements with Government, energy and public utilities, major approvals, infrastructure investment, environmental offsets, stakeholder relationships, logistics, strategy and Defence liaison. David was a key negotiator and problem solver across all of INPEX’s business interests in the NT. In 2013 David led the development of the award winning Ichthys Transport Management Plan. In 2016 David was the President Director’s Employee of the Year.
David has consulted to industry across the energy, resources, defence, infrastructure, government, transport and industrials sectors for 2 years. Prior to joining Austrade he had most recently completed a 3 month Director level contract with LifeFlight.
David served as a non-executive director of the Cancer Council NT for 6 years; 3 of them as Chairperson. David volunteers with the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Ronald McDonald House and Total Recreation NT charities. During his 11 years in the NT he raised nearly $150,000 for charity. David also served as a Justice of the Peace.
He holds a BSc (Mathematics), an MBA (International Business), is a graduate of the AICD and enjoys the learning journey. David enjoys cycling and skiing, watching sport, travel, food and wine, his Labradors, and being with his family and friends.
David is a Senior Investment Specialist with Austrade, applying his unique skills and energy to assisting investors to make their projects happen. He works across sectors, all levels of government and through the project lifecycle connecting investors with solutions.