david c. gaither (born march 4, 1957) is a minnesota resident, business and non-profit executive with over 20 years of private sector leadership positions ranging from early stage/startups using private equity, to venture capital funded expansions of stage ii organizations to publicly traded, fortune 500 firms in telecommunications, direct response marketing, executive search and turnaround efforts and a former member of the minnesota senate who represented district 43, which included portions of minnetonka, plymouth and medicine lake. a republican, he was elected in 2002 and served three years before resigning to become governor tim pawlenty's chief of staff.