I’m a writer, reporter, and editor based in Charlottesville, Virginia. I was a staff writer for The Hook, which won the state’s top journalism prize from the Virginia Press Association three times, wrote about world affairs for Takepart.com, and have handled marketing, publicity, and social media efforts for various for-profit and non-profit organizations. My fiction has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Shenandoah, and other literary journals. I also run a local news website called The DTM. 

From others…

“Dave McNair’s cover story, “Celebrity, Suicide and the Etiquette of Envy” raised the writing standards locally to Pulitzer levels. Insightful, deliberate, poignant, and brutally honest. The title foretold it all and made me want to turn the pages. The article taught me something about the music industry I didn’t know– in a non-judgmental way– and gave us all something to ponder.” —author Sally Honenberger

“Good stuff from what seems to be the best news source in Charlottesville.” — Rick Tetzeli, executive editor, Fast Company Magazine, talking about The DTM.

“On another day, with a different judge, this could have been first.” – 2011 Virginia Press Association Awards citation. 2nd Place, Public Affairs Writing, for an investigation on a faulty software system purchased by the local school system.

“The Hook provided a seamless mixture of reportage, speculation, analysis and context to give the U.Va. community in Charlottesville and beyond insight and presence during and after the turmoil of the president’s ouster. Aggressive inquisitiveness beyond a daily’s or even a weekly’s normal scope produced unusual facets of the story that went uncovered by other news outlets. This includes pursuit of angles that, while risky, opened the aperture for the audience.” – 2012 Virginia Press Association Awards citation. 1st Place, Public Affairs Writing, “The Ouster of a President.” Shared with the rest of the Hook staff. Based on this coverage The Hook also won the VPA’s highest honor, the Award for Journalistic Integrity & Public Service.

“This video is fabulous!! I am going to see if I can show it to my staff in our next staff meeting to give them a better idea of what the ACC is all about so they will feel comfortable broaching the subject with caregivers.” — Maggie Short, head of Nursing Operations & Development at UVA, on a 2019 video I created for an Adult Care Center.