Biography
Elder Cobbley is a Senior Missionary working with Sister Cobbley in the Dean of Students office, helping create the new Relationships and Family Development office. He and his wife have been serving at Brigham Young University – Hawaii since February of 2026. Home is in Gaston, Oregon, where they have a beautiful view home on 4 acres of land, complete with a John Deere tractor. There are 7 children and 18 grandchildren that constitute their posterity currently.
Elder Cobbley retired from a 45-year career in software engineering and management in 2025. He graduated from BYU–Provo in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. He then worked for several large high-tech companies as well as a couple of startups. The majority of his career was spent at Intel Corporation, where he began as operating system developer and eventually moved into management and eventually became Director of Engineering for the Internet of Things Group. He helped form the first Intel Labs, and led early research in desktop video conferencing, multicast network technology, consumer use of technology, sensors, wireless and inferencing technologies, eventually forming a team to design and build the first consumer iPad.
Elder Cobbley was born in Heber City, Utah, where his pioneer ancestry had settled. He eventually moved and graduated from Springville High School, with proximity making attending BYU Provo an easy choice, especially with enticement 4-year scholarship that U of U didn’t offer.
His served his first mission in the Mexico Monterrey Mission 50 years ago, where he maintains contact with several friends, and also find opportunities to maintain his Spanish skills as well. Elder Cobbley has since served in several Church callings and leadership positions over the years, but his favorite was when he helped form and lead a new YSA branch in Forest Grove, OR, and enjoyed teaching and participating in activities with his suddenly larger 100-person family.
Favorite hobbies and pastimes include extensive world travel, first enabled by the visits to the engineering teams he managed in several countries, and has visited 8 of the top 10 must-see European cities plus several parts of Asia and Latin America. David also enjoys hiking, vacations at the beach, gardening, and spending time with family. He taught each of his children how to snow ski at a young age and enjoyed watching them eventually compete on high school ski teams. He truly enjoys people and getting to know them, even considering his work teams as ohana. As he currently enjoys his 2nd mission, David hopes to serve at least one more mission in the future.