Dan Hoffman

In 2001, Dan started M5 Networks, Inc., a pioneering cloud communications company. As Founder and CEO of M5, Dan tore up the reviled office phone system model and enabled mid-size business clients to sell, service and staff their companies more effectively. In 2012, he sold M5 to ShoreTel, a public company who competed with premises-based technology. Post-acquisition, Dan joined the ShoreTel senior management team to help integrate M5 into the overall company, and then was Chief Strategy Officer before leaving ShoreTel in June 2013. Prior to M5, Dan founded Asia Online, a pan-Asian VC-backed roll-up of local Internet Service Providers, based in Hong Kong. He is now designing his next company to take his work in culture, learning, technology and b2b customer experiences to the next level. Dan currently serves as Board Chairman of Workshop in Business Opportunities, a 47-year non-profit that teaches business to entrepreneurs in struggling communities. He is a member of YPO, and the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, where he is helping to found a Brooklyn chapter. He is spending a year in Spain with his wife Julie and two young daughters, and training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Dan graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with an AB in Slavic Languages and Literature. He holds an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from Wharton at University of Pennsylvania, and an MA in International Studies from Lauder Institutes at University of Pennsylvania. Dan is a member of the 2014 Class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute.