David Pearson is a British physicist and computer scientist. He has degrees in physics and theoretical physics from London University and Imperial College of Science and Technology, and in computer science from the University of Cambridge, where he did his postgraduate research in the resolution of time-based three-dimensional matrices of second-order partial differential equation sets. Whilst still at university, he had also performed early work for British Steel in the use of very high frequency oscillators in the measurement of surface roughness in a continuous strip steel rolling mill in order to enable high quality enameling. He is an Associate of the Royal College of Science. He joined International Computers Limited in 1968 and became Head of Software Engineering.In 1977 he joined Bell-Northern Research in Ottawa and Palo Alto California and became Director of Advanced Development. In 1981 he joined the ranks of the early-80s hitech entrepreneurs and became the co-founder and President of Orcatech, one of the world's first intelligent graphics workstation companies. He went on to become the founding Chief Executive of the Strathclyde Institute in Glasgow, Scotland, Senior Director of Scottish Enterprise and Chief Executive for the economic development agency for Norfolk and Waveney. Before moving back to Canada, he spent three years as Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Industrial Society, later to become the Work Foundation think tank. He has Canadian and British citizenships.