Founder & Lead Strategist
StatusDan
Dan founded The Redeem Team to help people travel better.
He has worked the travel rewards system for as long as it's existed, so he is uniquely equipped to help high-performers get more from their premium credit cards and loyalty.
Born in Texas to a law student and a helicopter pilot in 1984 (the year that American Express introduced the Platinum Card), he was destined to fly high.
His curiosity for the magic of air travel has only grown since his first flight at two months old (Houston to Jackson Hole) to now being a two million miler.
He split time between his Mom in New England, and his Dad across the midwest and southeast, moving every two years to Coast Guard air stations, averaging 16 annual flights a year from Kindergarten to High School.
An "Unaccompanied Minor" at age five, he got his SkyMiles membership number in 1991, the year that Delta created the program.
With paper boarding passes in-hand, he has flown on bygone carriers, including: Continental, Eastern Airlines, Midwest Express, Northwest, People's Express, U.S. Airways, and TWA.
At University, he studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, traveling throughout Europe and spent weeks in Russia and China.
While earning degrees in Marketing & International Business, he studied Customer Relationship Management the advent of thefacebook.com
He navigated New York City in 2006 before the introduction of the iPhone, and was a basement-dweller before Conde-Nast bought Reddit.
He built a career working with big brands at creative agencies, including Ogilvy, where he led global new business during the largest account win in the company's history, resulting in 500 new jobs. He was instrumental in executing the celebration of David's 100th birthday at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and was the youngest participant to speak at leadership retreat at Ogilvy's storied home Chateau Touffou.
Years before Tiktok, he redeemed American Express points to shower on the Emirates A380, something no longer possible.
He traveled extensively while living in New York and helping brands navigate the mobile and social revolutions at progressively higher responsibility leadership roles as a creative executive.
Armed with 20 years of advertising, strategic partnerships, design, and placemaking experience, Daniel left Madison Avenue to solve a more personal problem: the friction of luxury travel.
Through The Redeem Team, he has his sights set on his passion for reinventing award travel. This combines a lifetime of 'flown' experience with the speed of generative AI.