David Nettles, P.E., is a native of Louisiana and earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from Louisiana Tech and a master’s degree in agricultural engineering at Colorado State University. He worked for the state of Montana on issues surrounding federal reserved water rights before joining Colorado’s Division of Water Resources in 1986. He became an assistant division engineer in the Division 1 office in 1991 and the lead assistant division engineer in 2003. 

In 2010, Nettles was named the Colorado Division 1 Water Engineer, managing water resources in the South Platte, Laramie and Republican river basins. He retired from that position in June 2018. 

Nettles lives in Greeley with his wife, Nancy, and has two adult children. He is also active in Living Grace Baptist Church and its outreach efforts to aid the homeless.