Dan Blake
Chief Operating Officer and Director of Alternatives
Principal
Education
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University of Iowa
Bachelor of Arts (English and Journalism)
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University of Denver
Master's of Business Administration (Finance and Accounting)
Dan Blake is a Founder and the Chief Operating Officer of Resonant Capital Advisors. His background in communications, technology, early-stage company management and alternative investments adds depth and breadth to the Resonant team.
His professional experience includes directing and structuring fundraising offerings, leading several multi-million dollar equity transactions and guiding board-level operational management post-investment. Prior to Resonant, Dan was a founding partner of a digital healthcare-focused venture capital fund. Dan also served as a director of the Wisconsin Technology Council, where he facilitated angel and other early-stage investment activity in Wisconsin.
Dan worked in journalism in the early part of his career, spending a number of years as a reporter and digital producer at the Chicago Tribune, covering politics, crime and courts in an always busy news town. He has been a guest lecturer for several college courses in the areas of communications, journalism and entrepreneurship. Dan stays busy raising his two young sons on the West Side of Madison.
- What advice would you give your younger self?
Comes from somewhere else: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
- What is the first job you ever held?
Neighborhood odds and ends. A first lesson in the markets, as my neighbor paid really well, putting pressure on my own parents to increase their compensation for lawn-mowing and shoveling. They had other leverage so it didn’t work.
- Dog person or cat person?
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Dogs. There was a brief period in college where I didn’t own one, but otherwise I’ve always had a friendly companion. Hillsboro is my 100-pound golden retriever/co-traveler.
- Which pastime activity gives you the most joy?
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There is little I love more than casting a fly on a western river.
- What is your favorite sports team?
Iowa football; Badger basketball. This gets complicated, but I’ve always been consistent. And earned my stripes from my many in-person games, including Final Fours and Bowl games for both programs.
- What is your favorite family vacation
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We have a cabin in northern Wisconsin, there are few places that beat sitting around a campfire with my two sons making s’mores.
- What is your current hobby? What’s one you’d love to try or get into?
I’m the dad of two young sons, so their hobbies are fast becoming mine. I’m trying to keep up and re-learn some that I’ve forgotten.