Founders

Experience
Dan is the Co-President of Thayer Leadership and a 1988 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  He is also President of the American University Kyiv, powered by Arizona State University, the first American accredited University in Ukraine.  Dan is the Special Advisor to the Commander in Chief Ukraine Armed Forces General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi and has been traveling between Washington, D.C. and Kyiv throughout the war.   He appears regularly on CNN with Erin Burnett to speak about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and publishes often through Small Wars Journal and Newsmax.   

In 2010, Dan co-founded Thayer Leadership along with four other West Point graduates with the mission of bringing the world to West Point and bringing West Point leadership to the world. Over the past 13 years, Thayer has grown steadily, becoming one of the Top 40 leader development companies in the world according to Training Industry. As a lifelong learner, he has earned three Masters degrees and recently completed his Doctoral classes.

He is a graduate of Airborne, Ranger, and Jungle Schools; and served two 1-year tours in the Middle East. After completing his Army commitment, Dan entered the private sector where he served as Chief Marketing Officer for a $500 million medical device manufacturer; Managing Director of a $10 billion investment firm; Co-Founder of a private equity firm in Iraq, and Co-Founder of a solar hybrid company in Afghanistan.

In 2004, Dan voluntarily joined the New York National Guard as an Infantry Captain to deploy to Iraq, where he served for 1-year as a Civil Affairs Officer at Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit. He was awarded the Purple Heart and cited by his brigade commander for “courage on the field of battle.”  

Scholarly Work/Publications/Awards
Dan has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Small Wars Journal, and Chief Executive magazine. In 2013, he published and co-authored his first book, West Point Leadership: Profiles of Courage, which features 200 of West Point graduates who have helped shape our nation. The book received 3 literary awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association plus an award from the Military Society Writers of America (MSWA).

Dan has appeared frequently on various news networks including CNN, FOX News, FOX & Friends, Bloomberg TV, NBC, MSNBC, The Today Show, and NewsMax. In 2023, he was awarded the Helen C. Bailey Award from Penn GSE Education Alumni for making a distinctive contribution to the field of education through research, professional involvement, and publications.

Education
Ed.D., ABD, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education (2022)

MS.Ed., Leadership & Learning, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, 2020

M.S., Integrated Marketing Communications, Medill Graduate School, Northwestern University, 2018

M.B.A., Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 2000

B.S., National Security, United States Military Academy, 1988