Dan joined Ashton Thomas Private Wealth as Chief Growth Officer in 2021. He focuses on initiatives to foster organic growth within the firm and leads the firm’s external business development efforts to drive strategic growth. His leadership is also valued from an organizational perspective, having successfully created, grown, and managed to maturity a number of large-scale wealth management initiatives throughout his career.
When asked why he selected Ashton Thomas, Dan summarizes it like this: “Ashton Thomas gives an advisor the ability to confidently gain independence without having to go it alone. It’s truly the best of both worlds.”
Prior to becoming part of the Ashton Thomas team, Dan was Regional President and Managing Director of Wells Fargo Advisors for the Gateway Region. In that role, Dan was responsible for overseeing more than 1,200 professionals comprised of client-facing advisors and supporting staff members from the heartland to the Rocky Mountains.
“Those whom I have had the privilege of serving over my many years in this industry know I demonstrate a fierce loyalty to the advisor as the business owner,” says Dan. “The necessary support, resources, and ability to be nimble is what they require to grow their practice. I am excited to now have the ability to offer the autonomy desired, the world-class resources, and the speed of execution required to allow their businesses to thrive.”
Before becoming a Regional President at Wells Fargo Advisors, Dan was Senior Director of Brokerage for the Mountain Northwest Region and the Florida region, as well as Senior Regional Sales Manager for the Colorado Region. His career with Wells Fargo Advisors spanned more than sixteen years. Prior to his time with Wells Fargo, Dan held a number of roles of increasing responsibility within the Banc of America Securities organizations and its predecessors. At one point, he was Vice President and Area Manager in the San Francisco Bay, having helped a number of years earlier to establish the organization’s footprint in the Silicon Valley. Dan began his professional investment career in 1993 with Quick & Reilly in New York City as a participant in their retail investment Branch Management Training Program.
Dan spent the early years of his life in Florida, where his father was a member of NASA’s Apollo program. His father later transitioned to a career in the mass media field with Gannett, which resulted in several moves across the country for the family in conjunction with the launch of USA Today. Dan believes this experience helped him establish a “great knack for building relationships in different geographic regions” from an early age. He attended McQuaid Jesuit, a well-known Catholic independent college preparatory school in Rochester, New York, which led to his eventual enrollment in the accounting program at St. Bonaventure University. Dan graduated with a BBA in Business Administration in 1993. Although he initially planned to pursue a career in public accounting, the dean of the business school helped point him in the direction of Wall Street and the rest, as they say, is history.
Dan successfully completed the Securities Industry Institute program sponsored by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to winning numerous performance awards and being part of several leadership councils within the Wells Fargo Advisor and Banc of America Securities organizations, he is a former member of the Florida Securities Dealers Association, Inc. Board of Governors.
In his civic life, Dan has been active in the Rotary and American Red Cross (Executive Board for Colorado and Wyoming), as well as currently serving as the Parks and Recreation Chairperson for the Village of Castle Pines. Dan and his wife also provide support to such organizations as Denver Kids, Catholic Charities, and Folds of Honor. “Giving and giving back have always been very important to me,” he says.
Dan and his wife, whom he met while at St. Bonaventure University, have been married for 24 years. They have two boys who are active in academics and athletics. The family enjoys traveling when they are able to do so. Dan is also an avid skier and golfer with a penchant for classic American muscle cars.
