David Forrester has been active in CIM for over 33 years, including attending CIM Council on behalf of: Coal Division, Mining Society of Nova Scotia, District 1 and the Environment and Social Responsibility Society. He was a founding member of the Underground Coal Mine Safety Research Collaboration within the Underground Mining Society. 

He is a professional mining engineer with a doctorate from Nottingham England, 1974. He then worked in the UK coal industry also serving in the Institution of Mining Engineers. He came to Canada with British Mining Consultants in 1984, becoming a citizen in 1992.

Working from his NS base, Forrester served the Cape Breton coal industry as a consultant and Senior Research Manager for CANMET and then managed a regional consulting office. In recent years, as a Senior Mining Engineer with AECOM, he has contributed to the site remediation of the former Devco mine sites, the Sydney Tar Ponds and several northern mines. Further, he has completed a number of international assignments and played a significant role in a tunnel rehabilitation project in western Canada, taking it from prefeasibility through detailed design to construction.