Dan Wagner | Markle
Dan Wagner | Markle

Dan Wagner

CEO and Founder, Civis Analytics
Former Chief Analytics Officer, Obama for America
Member, Rework America

Dan Wagner is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Civis Analytics, ambassador for the firm’s external partnerships, representing the company’s vital, core interests as it engages client business opportunities.

Wagner served as the Chief Analytics Officer on the 2012 Obama campaign, overseeing a 54-person team of analysts, engineers and organizers that provided analytics and technologies for voter contact, digital, paid media, fundraising and communication. His department’s work was credited with “reinventing how national campaigns are done” and has been highlighted in Time magazine, MIT Technology Review, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, the Los Angeles Times and Harper’s.

Wagner began his work in politics as the Deputy Voter File Manager for Barack Obama during the 2008 Iowa caucuses, which defined the relevance of data, and client comprehension of data, in his career. That led to roles as the Great Lakes Targeting Desk and National Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Targeting Director, followed by the National Targeting Director at the Democratic National Committee for the 2010 election cycle. Wagner previously worked with the FTI Consulting Economics Practice. He graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Economics and Public Policy.

Wagner is originally from Birmingham, Michigan, where he grew up imitating Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” performance. He remains the first one on any dance floor. He is fluent in Spanish and, according to two sources with knowledge of the incident, cried during “Like Water for Chocolate.” He used to play congas—not to be confused with the bongos—in a D.C. funk band.