Davut Şanver was born in 1960 in Kemah, Erzincan. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Boğaziçi University with a degree in Business Administration in 1983. He has been engaged in import and export activities in the food, textile, and metal industries. Şanver is also a founding member of the Foundation for Sciences and Arts (BİSAV) and the Boğaziçi Managers Foundation (BYV).

Davut Şanver is the founding president of the ILKE Foundation. He served as the Chair of the Executive Board until 2014 and continued as the Chair of the Board of Trustees until December 2018.