David Newhouse is Onondaga from the Six Nations of the Grand River community near Brantford, Ontario. He was the first Principal of the new Peter Gzowski College at Trent University and Chair of the Department of Indigenous Studies. He is also an Associate Professor in the Business Administration Program. Professor Newhouse is Co-Chair of the Trent Aboriginal Education Council. He was the IMC/U of S Aboriginal Scholar in Residence at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon in 1998/99. He also teaches in the Graduate CED Program at Concordia University.

He served as founding editor of the CANDO Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development, the first peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to Aboriginal economic development issues. He is the past Chair and a current member of the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO) Standing Committee on Education. He also served as a member of the Policy Team on Economics for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. In 2001, he served as a member of the Independent Panel on Access Criteria for the Atlantic Fisheries for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. He is a member of the National Aboriginal Benchmarking Committee of the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board. He currently serves as the Science Officer for the Aboriginal Peoples Health research committee for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

His research interests are focused on the way in which Aboriginal traditional thought and western thought are coming together and creating modern Aboriginal societies. His current exploration examines indigenous ideas about the future and the manner in which these are given political and social expression.