Dan Beckmann

Dan Beckmann is a New Media developer and award-winning journalist with a career spanning over a decade, who founded IB5k where the Obama campaign left off. At the campaign’s Chicago headquarters, as part of the New Media department, in addition to producing supporter-generated and viral initiatives, Dan piloted new video concepts to help voters better understand the candidate’s positions during the critical home stretch of the campaign.

Before leaving to work for Obama, Dan worked as a Creative Executive for the cable network Current TV, where he helped develop a “Collective” model for production through establishing and maintaining a network of filmmakers and journalists from around the world. While there he was also instrumental in developing new initiatives ranging from new show concepts to ways to integrate the web into a traditional television product which help to contribute to Current winning the 2007 Primetime Emmy award for Most Interactive Television Network.

Dan also spent over 4 years at ABC News where helped launch their User-Generated product “Be Seen, Be Heard”, created an internal beat unit to generate original reporting and was credited with coming up with the concept for ABC’s first podcast at ABC News Radio before the word “podcast” existed. He also was part of the production team that won a George Foster Peabody award for the investigation into Congressman Mark Foley. His multi-platform reporting during Hurricane Katrina was featured on Nightline, Good Morning America and ABC News.com, Radio and ABC’s digital television network. During the 2004 election, Dan produced coverage at every major event that cycle from the New Hampshire primary to both conventions — culminating with the Presidential Debate moderated by ABC’s Charles Gibson at his alma mater, Washington University.

Dan holds a Masters in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and American Culture from Washington University in St. Louis and is presently “all but dissertation” for his PhD in Media Philosophy at the European Graduate School in Saas Fee, Switzerland. A native of Toledo, OH, he’s now based in San Francisco where he’s trying to learn how to surf.