David (Sargood 1962-1965) Walker’s father decided to send him to boarding school. His Dad, a quiet, thoughtful man, had served during the Second World War, where he’d observed something important about leadership. “The best leaders,” he believed, “were often men who had been to boarding school.” To David’s father, boarding school meant more than academic opportunity. It meant discipline, independence and character. It meant learning to live alongside others, to take responsibility, and to lead.

David arrived at St Paul’s Collegiate School, a farm boy from Taranaki, dressed immaculately by his mother, with every item stitched and labelled by hand. His parents had driven him six long hours from the Manaia family dairy farm, one hour south of New Plymouth. On arrival, his mother lovingly made his top bunk bed, carefully tucking in every corner the way only mothers do. Then his parents left. And before lights out, David remembers the moment his bedding hit the floor. “Make it again,” someone barked. 'Welcome to boarding school', David thought. 

For David, it was the first moment he realised he was no longer under the shelter of his parents’ world. The protection was gone. The rules had changed. And yet, years later, he would look back on that moment with gratitude. Because boarding school didn’t just educate him, it shaped him. 

"St Paul’s taught me structure, self-reliance, how to make my own bed, clean my shoes, and how to turn up prepared. I remember Pat Plant (Housemaster 1961-1998), who saw the potential in me before I did. Sport also taught me how to exist within a team, especially in rugby and cricket. Our cricket coach Alan Lissette (Staff 1959-1973) used to tell us, ‘play the ball, not the bowler'." David added, "Sport opened other doors, and I made friends not only within the boarding house but also across year levels. You ended up with this huge cross-section of friends".

When David returned home at seventeen, he didn’t have some grand career plan. There was simply the family farm, and a father he respected.“I wanted to support my dad,” he admitted. So he attended Massey University, completing a Diploma in Dairy farming before returning home to farm. 

“Farming became more than work. It became my classroom. My father quietly shaped me, often without me realising it,” says David. His father took him to dairy company meetings, where old farmers argued fiercely over payouts and policy. David was introduced to the cooperative world, to governance, to leadership, and the importance of understanding people. David remembers standing with his father listening to masterful public speakers calm angry crowds.

One moment David remembers well. “Dad and I were at a fiery farmers’ meeting during the economic upheaval of the 1980s, emotions were boiling over! Then one speaker stood and quietly said: “My father always told me – when you wake up in the morning, ride around the cemetery. Then ask yourself if you’d swap places with anyone there.” The room fell silent. David never forgot the power of this man’s perspective.

Over time, the shy farm boy from Taranaki became one of New Zealand’s most respected rural leaders. David helped lead major dairy industry mergers that eventually contributed to the formation of Fonterra. He served on electricity boards during periods of enormous national reform. He chaired conferences, sat on governance boards, guided cooperatives, and became known as someone who could navigate change with calm and clarity. At one stage, David calculated that out of 21 working days in a month, he spent 19 in boardrooms somewhere around the country. Yet every morning, whenever possible, he still wanted to be in the cowshed first, milking his cows. David never believed leadership was about titles. He believed it was about understanding teams, communities, and human nature. 

Leadership opportunities also emerged beyond the dairy industry. From 1995, David became involved in the professionalisation of rugby while leading Taranaki Rugby and contributing to the formation of the Hurricanes. These experiences later encouraged him to take executive appointments in Auckland with Fonterra and Spark, enabling his sons to eventually take over the family farming business.

David was also present at the formation meetings of the St Paul's Collegiate School Agribusiness Programme. He believed students should understand the diversity of careers available within agribusiness, and he remains immensely proud of the programme’s continued success, with Agribusiness in Schools now taught across New Zealand.

And through it all, the lessons that stayed with him for life remained remarkably simple: "Believe in yourself. Understand who you are. Know your strengths. Own your weaknesses. And never forget where you came from."

When David’s father was passing away, David asked him one final question. “What would you have done differently, Dad?” His father thought quietly before answering. “Two things,” he said. “I wish I’d understood the potential of fertiliser sooner.” Then he smiled faintly. “And if the neighbour’s land ever comes up for sale – buy it.”

Because beneath all the wisdom, governance, and leadership, his father was still, at heart, just a farmer. And so is David.