INTERVIEW Back in tandem
After three decades of parallel careers, David Dunn and Darrel Birkett reunite at CDL with a shared mission: sharpen the customer journey, grow without losing the family feel, and turn a longrunning friendship into a partnership built for the next chapter.
"Looking ahead, both men see
opportunity in expanding geographically, deepening relationships with existing customers and entering new sectors."
W
hen David Dunn walked out of Toshiba after 23 years, he left behind a rhythm of corporate life so ingrained that its absence felt almost
disorientating. “Normally, for instance, today would have been forecast calls with Europe,” he says. “Last night I’d have been pulling together fi les from all the diff erent parts of the business, and then you end up with homework to do, and that would be my day fi nished. So, it feels a bit weird that I haven’t got these deadlines, and sometimes now I’m just sitting there thinking that actually I could do something else.” It is a culture shock that he welcomes, though. Dunn’s
move to CDL as joint managing director marks the beginning of a partnership that has been three decades in the making. He and CDL’s longstanding MD, Darrel Birkett, fi rst worked together in 1990, and they have remained close friends ever since. “We don’t have to impress each other,” Dunn says. “We can be very open, very honest and say what we feel without any hidden agendas.”
For Dunn, the decision to leave Toshiba came from a
growing sense of distance from the part of the job he loved most. “Over the last few years, I’ve spent more time sitting in an offi ce doing spreadsheets and reports than anything else, and it’s the thing I dislike the most,” he says. “I felt as though I was losing contact with customers, losing touch with the marketplace. Customers were talking about things, and I was thinking, I wasn’t aware of that, and I should have been.” He recalls being made commercial director in 2006, but he
resisted the move even then. “I didn’t want the job. I said, I don’t want to sit in an offi ce, I want to be out with customers. That’s what I enjoy doing.” However, Dunn is quick to express appreciation for his previous employers. “I have a lot to thank Toshiba and Carrier for – the support, knowledge and experience they have helped me gain over the years.” Birkett, meanwhile, had been wrestling with a similar drift. As CDL grew, he found himself pulled deeper into the operational aspects of the business. “One day I’m an accountant, one day I’m doing marketing, one day I’m HR,” he says. “I’m sitting in front of customers less and less.” The gap was widening at the same time Dunn was feeling increasingly boxed in. “I had a huge gap where we needed to give the sales team support and customer support,” Birkett says. “And one of the best salespeople I know was sitting there eager to get back in front of customers. It solved both problems.” The idea of working together again had been a running joke
16 July 2026 •
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for years. “There’s probably been a bit of tongue-in-cheek from me for the last decade saying to David, ‘Come on, when are you coming over?’” Birkett says. “There’s always been truth in it, but it’s been a bit of an ongoing joke as well.” When Dunn fi nally became available, the decision was made quickly. “If I had to go external to somebody I didn’t know, that would have been much harder,” Birkett says. “With David, the risk wasn’t there.”
Their complementary skill sets were forged in the early 1990s, when Dunn was, by his own admission, “a bit headstrong and running around like a headless chicken.” Birkett laughs at the memory, but acknowledges that the dynamic worked. Dunn would return from customer visits full of ideas; Birkett would slow the pace, structure the plan, and make it deliverable. “We ground each other,” Dunn says. “Bringing those skill sets back together means that as a business we have a complete viewpoint and a complete ability to look at something happening in the industry, talk about it, come up with a plan, implement it and just go and do it.”
Division of responsibilities The pair are candid that they have not drawn up a rigid division of responsibilities. “You might expect we’d have this grand master plan, but that’s not really the case,” Birkett says. “Already, David’s come in with ideas I wasn’t doing, and I can just leave him to get on and do what he does best. Over time, things will naturally fall one side or the other, and we’ll no doubt fi nd our way.” Dunn also expects the split of responsibilities to emerge
organically. “Darrel enjoys the detail, loves spreadsheets. Sometimes I get a bit bored with that. So, he’ll naturally do more of the daytoday operational stuff , and I’ll do more of the sales. The bit in the middle we’ll share.” What they are absolutely aligned on is the customer
journey. “We want to increase the volume of business we do with existing customers,” Dunn says. “We want to increase our share of the market, and we’re passionate about the customer journey.” CDL already delivers around 60% of its orders using its own transport, something Dunn sees as a major diff erentiator. “That’s key. The customer on site needs to know when it’s going to get there, and our drivers give them a hand to put it in place.”
The ambition is to push that 60% to 80% or even 90%. “Then we’ve got control,” Dunn says. “Fewer damages, less wasted
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