Director of Finance and Human Resources (Joined 2020)

Daniel spent his early childhood running around on his family’s 10-acre farm, just outside of Eugene, Oregon. His family raised chickens and sheep and tended a big garden—it was a life spent outdoors.

Daniel’s deep appreciation for learning and teachers stems from his Waldorf education, which complemented his upbringing; he attended Waldorf schools from preschool through high school and thrived through the hands-on, art-focused approach. His teachers helped him navigate some early learning disabilities in reading and writing. “Overcoming those challenges propelled me to really love reading, writing, and storytelling,” Daniel says. “Sometimes the things you struggle with and overcome become the things that have the greatest impact on the trajectory of your life.”

After majoring in college in English and Creative Writing at the University of Redlands, Daniel initially pursued teaching and writing, working at the Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA, and an ELL middle school program in Mexico. He went on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he taught creative writing to undergraduates.

Daniel moved next into the nonprofit arena where he switched his focus to operations and finance, working at 826 National and most recently the Circus Center, both in San Francisco. “Within smaller nonprofits, there’s the opportunity to wear so many hats,” Daniel explains. “If you have the desire and drive, you can find the needs, and teach yourself to help fill them. That ongoing opportunity to learn new things is incredibly exciting to me.”

Daniel still plans to write a novel.

Contact Daniel at daniel@americascores.org