Colonel Dave Carney was born in Oakville, ON and enrolled in the Canadian Army in 1963. He undertook his initial training with the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps School in Camp Borden and was commissioned into the RCE in 1967 after graduating in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University.
Dave’s first tour of duty was with 1 Fd Sqn Petawawa where he served as a Field Troop Commander and Sqn 2IC. He then attended the Army Survey Course with the RE School of Military Survey in England and was posted to the Mapping and Charting Establishment upon completion. There he was Chief of Party for Operation Arctic 71 and 2IC of Compilation Division.
Dave was then posted as an Exchange Officer with the Royal Australian Survey Corps at the Army Survey Regiment in Bendigo, Victoria, and 4 Field Survey Squadron on operations in Papua New Guinea. On returning from New Guinea he was promoted to Major, briefly served as CO 4 Field Survey Squadron in Adelaide, South Australia, then came back to Canada as Senior Requirements Officer with the BCEO, CFB Halifax.
Dave then undertook post-graduate studies at the University of New Brunswick, graduating in 1978 with a Master of Science in Surveying Engineering degree and returning to MCE as OC Compilation Division. Promoted to LCol, he was appointed CO MCE in July 1982. Promotion to Colonel followed in 1986 and he was appointed Director of Geographic Operations at NDHQ. In 1988 he briefly served as DGMEO before returning to D Geo Ops. In 1991 Dave took his release from the CAF to join the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources as the Director of Geographic Information Systems.
At EMR Dave was appointed Director of the Topographical Mapping Division responsible for the national mapping program. Following a re-organization in 1992, Dave was then appointed Director of the new Canada Centre for Mapping with responsibility for all topographic mapping as well as aeronautical charting, the National Atlas, and associated research and development.
From 1995 to 1999 Dave was the Executive Director of Business Development for the newly formed Earth Sciences Sector of the Department of Natural Resources with responsibilities that included the Geological Survey of Canada as well as Geomatics Canada and the Polar Continental Shelf Project. In addition to responsibilities for international business development and business planning he chaired the federal departmental Inter-Agency Committee on Geomatics, the federal-provincial Canadian Council on Geomatics, the National Working Group for Excellence in Geomatics, was President of the International Cartographic Association’s 1999 World Congress held in Ottawa, for which he received the ICA Gold Medal and the Natural Resources Canada Departmental Merit Award, and led geomatics projects and trade missions to Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
In 2000, Dave was appointed Director General Policy, Planning, and Information Systems Branch, responsible for strategic direction, policy development, and management of human and financial resources for the Earth Sciences Sector. From 2001 to 2002, he left NRCan to be Executive Director, Alternative Service Delivery, for the Canadian Hydrographic Service of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Here he led a major investigation into a new form of governance for CHS that would enable it to ensure sustainability of the national hydrographic program for Canadian waters.
From 2002 to 2003 Dave was Executive-In-Residence at the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering at UNB, responsible for strategic relations, growth and outreach, the search for international research and training opportunities, as well as assisting in the delivery of academic programs. On return to Ottawa he prepared a Future Strategy for Geomatics in Canada for NRCan, and retired in April of 2003.
On retirement from the federal government, Dave continued for six years as an Associate with WaterMark Industries Inc. There he led the environmental impact portion of a CIDA contract to deliver a new national geospatial infrastructure for Brazil. This project contributed to greater equity in Brazil through the development of a modern infrastructure that laid the foundation for future progress in land reform (including indigenous lands), environmental management, and sustainable natural resource development.
Dave and the love of his life Ruth Anne were married near Adelaide, South Australia, and are the proud parents of Sarah and Parker and their spouses Craig Silverman and Francesca Stea, and their fantastic four grandchildren, Finn, Miles, Francesco, and Isabella.