He was educated at The
Geelong College,
Australian National University, and
The Wharton School (
UPenn). Epstein began his career as a political adviser, serving as Private Secretary to
John Dawkins in the Employment, Education and Training portfolio, where he was involved in the campaign to introduce Australia's
Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS), then serving as Director of the Ministerial Media Group and National Media Liaison Service for
Australian Labor Party politicians
Bob Hawke and
Paul Keating during their terms as Prime Minister of Australia. He was then Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Federal Opposition
Kim Beazley. In 1999, he left politics to head both the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association and Australian Telecommunications Industry Association. He was then recruited to Macquarie Corporate Telecommunications, to whom he remained an adviser after becoming a partner and Director of Government Relations Australia, a corporate advisory firm. In June 2007, he was appointed Chief of Staff and Principal Adviser to
Australian Labor Party politician
Kevin Rudd, first heading the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, then the Prime Minister's Office. US
State Department officials reported on his "significant" role in the Australian Labor Party campaign during the
2007 Australian Federal Election. In 2008 he was ranked second in the
Australian Financial Review's Covert Power list. Epstein resigned as Prime Minister's Chief of staff in late 2008 before accepting the position of Group Executive for Government and Corporate Affairs at
Qantas Airways Limited, and served on the Qantas Executive Committee. While at Qantas he managed the company's public response to the
Qantas Flight 32 engine explosion incident, later attracting recognition from the pilot of the aircraft. Reportedly, he was also involved in negotiating the release of
Jetstar executives in Vietnam in the wake of
Jetstar Pacific losing $US31 million on disputed fuel-hedging contracts in 2008. Epstein was recruited to
BHP Billiton in late 2010 by CEO
Marius Kloppers, to a new role as company's Head of Group Public Affairs This was speculated to be part of a response to the failure of $US40 billion bid for
PotashCorp following a backlash over foreign ownership from Canadian politicians. During Epstein's tenure, BHP Billiton overtook Microsoft in size, by market capitalization, and reported a $22 billion annual profit. He left this role in September 2011, but remained a strategy and public affairs adviser to companies, serving as Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for
Singtel Optus until 2017. He is now Executive Director of The Chifley Research Centre, the official think-tank of the
Australian Labor Party and a company director. David Epstein was a non-executive director of the
European Australian Business Council, Communications Compliance Limited and
The Asia Society Australia Centre before returning to the Prime Minister's Office in 2024, and sat on boards of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO Limited) and the Committee for Sydney until 2018, and for three terms at
Opera Australia until 2019. He was also a member of the advisory board for the Headon Photofestival Foundation and was appointed an Adjunct Professor in the Deakin Business School by Deakin University in January 2019. In July 2022, David Epstein was appointed Deputy Chair of the Open Gardens Victoria (OGV), and became Chair in 2023. In March 2024, Epstein returned to working in politics after being appointed as the Principal Private Secretary in the
Prime Minister's Office of
Anthony Albanese. ==Publications==