Dan grew up in a family of educators who convinced him to commit himself to lifelong learning and community service.  Following their example, Dan has taught conflict resolution and creative problem-solving skills to at-risk elementary school students, religion to high school students, constitutional law to undergraduate students, and special education law to graduate students.  This commitment has also led Dan to focus his practice by representing school districts and municipalities.

Dan learned about life, leadership and teamwork on the field as well as in the classroom, having played defensive back for Coach Pete Schmidt’s Albion College football team from 1988-1991.  Three of those teams not only won consecutive Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles, but have also subsequently been inducted into the Albion College Athletic Hall of Fame.

From 2000-2001, Dan took a sabbatical from Scholten Fant to serve as associate director of KIDS HOPE USA, where he guided the non-profit organization to independent status from International Aid.