Dan has nearly 40 years of consumer packaged goods experience. He has held senior management positions with large, multinational companies for 16 years, and over the past 23 years, has co-founded two start-up companies.
From 1978-1994, Dan spent 16 years with Procter & Gamble, Quaker Oats, and the Drackett companies in a variety of marketing, sales, and general management positions.
From 1994-2009, as co-founder of Changing Paradigms, Dan‘s team built an $85M CPG company, becoming a leader in premium private label products within the air care, household cleaners, drain care, laundry additives, and baby care categories. During this time, Changing Paradigms became a key partner with P&G’s GBD group leveraging his teams CPG experience to (1) resurrect orphan P&G brands like Downy Wrinkle Releaser, Febreze Laundry Odor Eliminator, and Dryel at home dry cleaner (which was later purchased), (2) build brand adjacencies for the Dreft Brand, (3) share technical knowledge to accelerate Febreze entry in the candle segment, and (4) incubate new concepts for the laundry care group. In 2007, Changing Paradigms was sold to oneCare, where Dan spent 3 years continuing to oversee the Changing Paradigms division.
In 2009, Dan co-founded Nehemiah Manufacturing, whose mission is to build brands, create jobs, and change lives through employment and whole life coaching in the inner-city of Cincinnati. With the support of P&G, Nehemiah licensed the Pampers Kandoo business in September 2009 which was the foundation for the start of the Nehemiah Company. In 2012, Nehemiah acquired the Boogie Wipes brand, a patented saline nose wipe for little children, building the company’s presence within baby/toddler care.
In October, 2013, Nehemiah entered an arrangement with Procter & Gamble to licensed 3 fabric & home care brands… Downy Wrinkle Releaser, Febreze Laundry Odor Eliminator, and Dreft laundry soil & stain remover, fabric refresher, and multi-surface spray/wipes. Located in its new 180,000 square foot facility at 1907 South Street in Lower Price Hill, Nehemiah currently employs 180 people, with over 125 employees in the production, warehousing, and office positions, being second change citizens. Second chance citizens are those that find it extremely hard to find sustainable employment because of having a felony in the background, or a history of drug and/or alcohol abuse leading the gaps in their employment history, or even those who have were homeless for a period of time.
In 2015, Dan led a group that set into motion plans to team with other businesses in providing critically needed jobs for Returning Citizens. In April of 2016, the Beacon of Hope Business Alliance was formally launched, engaging leaders from business, government, churches and related social services. The mission over time is to expose 2,500 new jobs each year to the Second Chance population by creating awareness, providing a proven process and easy access to an ecosystem of social support – so that everyone who wants to work and change their life will be given that chance. To date,over 80 companies are involved in this mission while hiring over 600 2nd Chance citizens. In August, 2019, Nehemiah transitioned the Beacon of Hope Business Alliance to Cincinnati Works, to help take this Alliance to the next level.
Dan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School in 1978. Dan resides in Cincinnati with his wife of 40 years and is the proud father of three girls and a 12 year old granddaughter.
