Beaver Reflections:
I think back to my time at Beaver with nostalgia and gratitude. Beaver challenged me and gave me a lot of leeway and latitude to try new things. I had countless teachers who shaped the way I think. For instance, my drama teacher, Ms. Yoles, was influential in my passion for theater which continued throughout college. If I ever felt like something was missing from my experience, I was encouraged to do something about it. This led me, along with a few friends, to start The Beaver Reader, the school’s student newspaper.

What is #happeningnow in your life:
After graduating from Brandeis in 2012, I worked as the chief researcher to Professor David Gergen at the Harvard Kennedy School and CNN, also helping to oversee Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership. After that, I moved to New York and became the chief of staff to Arianna Huffington, the founder and then-president of The Huffington Post. After a couple of years, Arianna and I left HuffPost to launch Thrive Global, a health and well-being technology company that focuses on how to use technology to influence behavior change within companies to end the epidemic of stress and burnout.

“I am starting at Harvard Business School in the fall which means I’ll have to take a step back from Thrive Global, which will be difficult after seeing the company go from an idea to a scaled business. But this certainly won’t be my last start-up experience.”

– Dan Katz ’08

Advice to current Beaver students:
My advice to current Beaver students is to show up. Get involved and raise your hand. Be eager and participate. Take initiative and new doors will open for you.