Dan Levitan is a former

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

turned

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

. He is co-founding partner at

Maveron Maveron is an American venture capital firm that invests in consumer-only and early-stage companies, with offices in Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California. The firm was co-founded by Dan Levitan and former Starbucks chief executive Ho ...

, which invests in consumer-only businesses centered on technology-enabled products and services in commerce, education, and health and wellness.

Early life

Levitan is the son of Minna and Milton Levitan.New York Times: "WEDDINGS; Stacey Winston, Dan Levitan"
November 8, 1998 Levitan is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Business School.

Career

After school, Levitan spent 15 years in investment banking focused primarily on consumer businesses. During his banking career, Levitan helped more than 100 companies go public, make strategic acquisitions or monetize the equity value they had created. As a managing director at Schroder Wertheim & Co., including its predecessor companies (“Schroders”), he led the firm’s consumer group and founded its West Coast investment banking division. Levitan met

Howard Schultz Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who served as both chairman and CEO of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and as interim CEO since 2022. Schultz also owned the Seattle SuperSonics baske ...

in 1991, when Starbucks began planning for its IPO. Since co-founding the firm with

in 1998, Levitan has led many of the firm’s successful investments including

Zulily Zulily, LLC is an American e-commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington and owned by Qurate Retail Group. Its target audience is young mothers interested in brand-name goods for their children. It holds no inventory, instead consolida ...

(NASDAQ: ZU), Potbelly (NASDAQ: PBPB), Trupanion (NYSE: TRUP), Capella Education Company (NASDAQ: CPLA),

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

(NASDAQ: EBAY), and

Shutterfly Shutterfly, LLC. is an American photography, photography products, and image sharing company, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company is mainly known for custom photo printing services, including books featuring user-provided im ...

(NASDAQ: SFLY). He currently serves on the board of directors of Allbirds, Brewbird, daring foods, Domain Money, Engageli, Landing, Pacaso, Trupanion and Two Chairs. Levitan has been recognized on the 2014 Forbes Midas List as one of the world's top investors. He has also been named NASDAQ private company director of the year.

Philanthropy

Levitan has acted as a board member to numerous private, public and philanthropic organizations. He currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Seattle Children’s Healthcare System and Seattle Children’s Hospital and he also serves on the Investment Advisory Committee for Seattle Children’s which oversees over $2B in AUM. Levitan is a board member of The Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School, where he acts as a judge at the annual New Venture Competition. Levitan is also chair of Brothers for Life (formerly Hope for Heroism), a charity dedicated to supporting wounded

Israeli Defense Force The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

soldiers.Jewish Journal: "Israeli heroes: Some of them admit to needing help" by Simone Wilson
July 9, 2013

Personal life

Levitan married Stacey Rae Winston in a Jewish ceremony at the St. Regis Hotel in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. They have two children together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levitan, Dan Duke University alumni Harvard Business School alumni Living people Jewish American philanthropists American venture capitalists American philanthropists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews