Sir David was born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff. Weeks later he was in Newcastle and soon after being adopted, he grew up in a County Durham mining community. After leaving Grammar School, a wide range of jobs led him into the construction industry when a serious football injury resulted in him changing jobs again, into sales, eventually joining Hambro Life as a Sales Adviser in 1983. He remained with the company, which became Allied Dunbar, for the next thirteen years, eventually becoming an Executive Sales Director.
Sensing there was a better way to deliver financial advice, which he attributes a large part to his MBA studies, in 1996 he left. After a period of travelling in the USA, in 1997 he co-founded Positive Solutions, an Independent Financial Advisory (IFA) firm, using technology to dramatically change the industry process and cost model. It subsequently grew to be the largest IFA in the UK and was sold in 2002 for £163m. Despite initial plans to retire, Sir David chose to remain at Positive Solutions, first as Chairman and later as a Non-Executive Director, until 2007 when he left to set up True Potential LLP.
Based in Newcastle True Potential is now one of the largest wealth management firms in the UK, with several unique aspects differentiating it from competitors, and one of the only truly vertically integrated firms in the industry. Based on its own technology foundations, this has allowed innovation to flourish with several firsts to its name. Its mission was to democratise finance, so that every pound is easy to save, the ImpulseSave innovation allows anyone to invest in a pension or ISA from £1, via their smart phone, with the app being able to track all investments, and give easy interaction to clients. This is unique, but this was launched over 10 years ago. Through its investment management firm, True Potential manages over £27bn of its clients’ money, invested worldwide from their headquarters in Newcastle, with nearly 600 people working at its head office as well as a team of employees in Ulster. Over 5,000 IFAs use True Potential’s services.
True Potential is a founding signatory to the Social Mobility Pledge, which Sir David co-founded with the former Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon Justine Greening. Rather than talk about social mobility, or make token gestures and virtue signals, the firm unashamedly employs based on attitude and ability to do the job – resulting in (accidental) employee diversity with people from over 30 countries in head office., who can do their jobs well – the only test – regardless of who they are or where they have come from.
In 2021, True Potential LLP sold a majority stake of its business to private equity firm Cinven and in September 2023 Sir David stepped down as Chairman, though he remains involved as a strategic adviser to the board and a major shareholder.
Sir David has been a consistent champion of education and social mobility through his foundation, the Harrison Foundation, and making it a shareholder in the business. Set up in 2007 the Harrison Foundation supports projects that make a practical difference in education, healthcare and life chances. Over the past sixteen years, the Foundation has donated millions of pounds to good causes that leave a lasting impact.
In 2017 Sir David set up the first Harrison Centre for Social Mobility to tackle some of the North East’s most entrenched social issues. Based at the Beacon of Light educational centre in Sunderland, the Centre works with partners across the UK and overseas to support young, disadvantaged people with the aim of helping them into work. To date over one thousand young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who had fallen out of the mainstream education system, have got their lives back on track at the Centre. Students learn core English and Maths skills as well as IT, business and enterprise. Ninety per cent of students at the Centre have achieved a formal qualification, 97% have increased digital skills and 100% have increased employability skills.
In 2022 four further centres were opened across the UK – including an online Harrison Centre in partnership with the Open University – and the first international Harrison Centre was created in Antigua and Barbuda. A further purpose-built Harrison Centre is about to be constructed in Newcastle.
In 2013 Sir David donated £1.4m to the Open University to establish the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (PUFin), a pioneering Centre of Excellence for research in the development of personal financial capabilities. The Centre works to improve the public understanding of personal finance through its research and the delivery of free modules providing individuals with the tools to make sound financial decisions. The modules have been accessed by hundreds of thousands of people to date who have improved their knowledge of personal finance and confidence when managing their money.
In 2020, the Harrison Foundation co-founded the Covid-19 Business Pledge to mobilise business in response to the immediate crisis. This work is now feeding into the Social Mobility Pledge, which encourages businesses to support social mobility by adopting fair recruitment policies and offering work experience and apprenticeships. The Pledge also celebrates innovative ideas and highlights best practice. To date, more than 700 organisations have signed the Pledge, covering eight million employees and students across the UK. The organisation has accelerated efforts to tackle the widening opportunity gap which has resulted from the pandemic.
In 2022, Sir David was awarded an Honorary Degree from The Open University for his exceptional contribution to highlighting the need to improve public understanding of personal finance.
Also in 2022 Sir David was knighted, becoming a Knight Grand Cross of The Most Distinguished Order of The Nation (KGCN) recognising his achievements in business and his impact on social mobility.
