I live in Singapore with my wife, Claire, our daughter, Isla and our son, Henry. We moved here after 8 or so years in Zurich, Switzerland (where I had moved to from London having spent a few great years going to business school and working there). I’ve loved just about every place I’ve lived, and living abroad has become a way of life – America almost feels like a foreign country to me now, after so long gone. But, living far away does have its challenges: Claire is from Hobart, Tasmania and my family lives in Colorado and California. With wonderful families on two opposite sides of the earth, it makes for busy travel schedules.
I work for OCBC Bank, where I am building and heading the Customer Experience Team. We are an internal consultancy running market research, experience strategy and innovation, and experience design. I also have my own business, The Sufferfest, which produces and sells cycling workout videos.
While Customer Experience is a passion, it’s not the only one. I have two bikes, but feel that is three too few. I can spend a tremendous amount of time in grocery stores. I have four books under my bed and am reading them all at the same time. I find visiting wine stores a very pleasant way to pass the time. The smell of outside when walking. Is that a meal I haven’t tried? Tickets to somewhere I haven’t been. Emails from friends. Maps. Music. Photography. Family.
What’s written here is about the things above. And perhaps some things that aren’t.
10 March, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Hello Dave, It was great to visit your news and what been going on with you. I’m exited to hear your on the bike. Sounds like thet race put it to you. Your married and with a child, wonderful. I talked to Dom yesterday. We rode a few times last year but Dom said he was going to race some this year. We will ride this year and Gene jr. has new job and will ride alot more. He is married 3 years and his wife is due any day now. I had a bicycle accident in 2005 that left me with bum knee so its hard to push hard on the pedals. I just wanted to keep in touch. If you get to Erie please look us up or if I get to Europe i’ll do the same.
This is Wheels Bike Shop last year, i’m closing our doors. My accident kind of moved things ahead of my plans. I cherish the fun times we all had. Hope to see you soon. Gene sr
26 March, 2008 at 10:53 pm
i’ve just read a great article about you in Fast Company… yes, i’m a bit behind with my mag reading. i may be following your path to cambridge next year and/or geneva… so i’ll check out the swiss tab.
ciao,
jon
san francisco
Note: just finished “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage”… amazing.
10 December, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hi David,
Thank you for your kind words about jogtunes.com. Your site is outstanding. I noticed that you also play some indie music in your productions. Maybe we can network more about paced workouts sequenced by BPM. Please tell me what you think at comments at jogtunes.com.
Best of biking!
Bob
16 February, 2009 at 8:23 pm
David, great videos. I did #5 on Saturday, #4 on Sunday (Chicago weather not good over the weekend). Great workout made fun and inspiring by your choice in cuts. While I may not have the same taste in music as you, having your videos on an iTouch makes a trip to the spin bike something to look forward to. Please produce some more. I told my friends about them, then there was the blurb on RBR, Sufferfest is a trend.
I will be in Belgium in March, hopefully weather will be a little better. Know any places to rent a road bike in Brussels?
Anyway. Thanks for the work. I looked for tshirts/mugs on your site but couldn’t find them.
26 February, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Hey man, I too am an “auslander” living in Zurich and our endurance event organization is just getting starting with events in Switzerland … next Sat, for example, is a Rogaine based from a great small brewery south of Zurich. It’s not a biking sufferfest, but great training and fun none-the-less.
Drop me a line if you’re interested. By the way, I am also a consultant at CS Zurich in the IT dept. Got to pay the bills somehow, right?
10 March, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Hi David
Loved your articles on Switzerland. I moved here from London with my fiance 2 weeks ago and we are just finding our feet, but I can already relate to much of what you say, especially as I am currently looking for a new job which has given me the opportunity to have a look around and investigate what makes this city tick!
I found you when I was looking up info on the fabled ‘zuri-sacks’, and noticed that you work on user-centered research for Credit Suisse. This really interests me, I have a Market Research background, a mixture of public sector and private and am looking to branch out over here. At the moment I am approaching major employers of English-speaking professionals – do you have any tips?
Sorry if this is cheeky emailing you like this, just thought what you do sounded interesting and I was looking at moving in an internal marketing direction…
Simon Fathers
Albisreiden
20 August, 2009 at 10:03 am
Hello Dave:
Found you in Emily’s book. I am passionate about Customer Value and would like to have you comment on my soon to be published book: Total Customer Value Management: Transforming Business Thinking
My preivous book is called Customerustained Business Success Value Investment: Formula for Success.
If ok, I can email a copy of my new book for your review.
Thanks and rgds,
Gautam Mahajan
26 May, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Hello!!! It was wonderful reading about you! We bought a bike for our son from “Wheels”. My husband and I struck up a conversation with Gene Groenendal and realized we both knew you and Dan well. I told him that I always thought the world of you and your brother! He told me to write you here, I had a hard time locating you after so many years. Jill