About this guy, Dan

I’m the CTO of NationBuilder, the world’s first Community Organising System.

On the side, I write and record music and occasionally perform comedy.

Once upon a time, I created a TV show in Australia called Planet Nerd, with some wonderful friends:

Full credit for this amazing Jekyll theme must got to Michael Rose

Longer bio…

Daniel Walmsley is Chief Technology Officer at NationBuilder, helping build the company that will change the way that communities organise. NationBuilder brings the power of political organising tools, once reserved for well-funded political campaigns, to everybody who wants to be a leader.

Dan has been a software developer and entrepreneur for 15 years. He has a diverse background in design, production, acting, creative writing and theatre directing, and a long-time commitment to social activism and combating climate change.

A veteran of four technology startups, Dan was the first CTO of Purpose, building online communities that enable individuals to connect, learn and work together to solve major global problems such as poverty, climate change, nuclear proliferation and human rights abuse. In this role, Dan worked with strategists from Avaaz, MoveOn, GetUp! and others to create new movements - most notably AllOut.org, a global LGBT campaigning organisation that grew to over half a million members in just 4 months.

In Australia, he founded two new media start-ups, Gravity Rail, creating great tech for filmmakers and other artists, and Agent Blank, whose sites include syn.org.au, a Voxie-award winner for Excellence in Digital Media, and “Show on the Road”, Australia’s first real-time road-trip documentary. He has also developed software for the aerospace, finance, pharmaceutical and education industries.

Dan’s leadership style is shaped by nearly two decades in comedy, music, and theater. He teaches improvisational theater and speaks at conferences about the link between programming and improv comedy. He was trained by Al Gore to present “An Inconvenient Truth,” and adapted a comedy version that has been presented to audiences in three continents. He has toured with comedy groups and individually, including with award-winning shows at Edinburgh Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. He has appeared as an Internet culture commentator on numerous television shows in Australia and produced and directed his own weekly variety show, Planet Nerd. He continues to perform stand-up at open mic nights in Los Angeles, where he currently resides with his wife, a women’s rights activist.