A westerner by choice, Dan was born and raised in the Midwest, beginning his undergraduate work in Psychology from St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin, and his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Behavioral Disabilities from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Dan has extensive experience working with individuals with developmental disabilities and severe behavior problems. He also has extensive experience in development and administration of behavior training projects on a local and on a statewide level. Dan has been with the Institute of Human Development at Northern Arizona University since 1992, coordinating and directing numerous projects. He is currently Project Director for the Arizona Positive Behavior Support Project and the Arizona Behavior Initiative.

The AzPBS is funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Developmental Disabilities, and the Department of Economic Security, Division of Developmental Disabilities with the purpose of helping caregivers improve the behavior of individual children and adults with developmental disabilities. ABI is funded by the Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services for the purpose of helping schools improve the behavior of all students with or without disabilities. Both projects are statewide in their focus and have provided training to hundreds of teachers, parents, providers and other caregivers since their beginning in 1999.