Dan currently serves as Executive Producer and Director of Thrival and Business Director for Ascender, a Pittsburgh-based 501(c)(3) economic development nonprofit organization that operates an incubator for early-stage entrepreneurs and innovators, as well as co-working and entrepreneurial literacy programs.
He brings a decade of experience in a variety of industries — including the car business, restaurants, and retail — ranging from sales to foreign policy, to government, to nonprofit management.
At a higher level, Dan focuses on the synthesis of complex economic, political, social, and cultural systems. He is a firm believer in the power of storytelling, narrative, and history — and in particular, how this power impacts the space of technology, design, and the shared human experience.
As the lead of Thrival, Dan leads multi-million dollar funding and sponsorship campaigns, strategic planning and design, and the scale and development of the festival — which in over five years has welcomed 35,000+ attendees, multi-platinum and Grammy-Award winning music artists, award winning thought leaders, executives from Fortune 500 companies, and innovators from across industries and around the world.
Over the last few years, Dan’s thoughts, perspectives, and story have been featured in multiple local, national, and international media publications, including The Guardian, TIME Money, Billboard, Huffington Post, Consequence of Sound, PSFK, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, NEXT Pittsburgh, Crain’s, DJ Magazine, Smart Business, The Incline, and more.
He has also curated content in USA Today, VICE Creator’s Project, and Blackbook.
Since 2013, he has been a part of the World Economic Forum network of Global Shapers, serving as Pittsburgh’s curator from 2014-15 and leading Pittsburgh’s participation in the first ever “Shaping Davos” initiative in January 2015 — with the Steel City recognized as North America’s lead “Innovation City” for the initiative.
Dan currently serves on the board of the Women and Girls Foundation. Additionally, he is completing a one-year fellowship with the Mattress Factory and sits on the Community Leaders Advisory Committee for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
Dan is a graduate of Washington & Jefferson College (B.A.) and the University of Pittsburgh (MPIA). He resides in the Stanton Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh with his wife, Lauren, and their dog, Woodrow.