Meet Dan…
“Marketing isn’t about making things look good to people. It’s about making good things matter to people.”
For nearly 25 years, Dan Esdale has been helping organizations find clarity, define their story, and grow with purpose. An experienced C-suite marketing executive, higher-education administrator, and board leader, Dan has built a career at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, and impact. The common theme? Growth!
As the Strategic Growth Advisor at Fintuition, Dan brings a strategic lens to every engagement, guiding leaders, boards, and business owners to connect their mission to measurable growth. His expertise spans strategic planning, marketing and brand development, leadership training, and AI adoption for small businesses and nonprofits.
Dan’s approach to consulting is rooted in his belief that marketing and strategy are about alignment. The means aligning people with purpose, teams with goals, and organizations with opportunity. He helps clients move beyond checklists and campaigns to create cohesive, sustainable growth frameworks that build both momentum and meaning.
Because marketing isn’t decoration.
It’s direction.
Before joining Fintuition, Dan spent a decade in higher education, leading communications and strategy initiatives at Harvard Kennedy School and Suffolk University, followed by senior leadership roles in the human services sector, where he served as Chief Marketing Officer at Incompass Human Services and the New England Human Services Collaborative. He’s also a national presenter and workshop facilitator, having led sessions on leadership development, growth strategy, and the responsible integration of AI in mission-driven organizations.
An MBA graduate and lifelong learner, he is active in the community, currently serving as immediate past Chair of the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on numerous grant selection committees with the Greater Lowell Community Foundation and has worked with high schoolers in Boston as part of BUILD Boston. He lives in Charlestown with his wife and business partner Michaele, his 14-year old son Jake, and the family’s three-year old Australian Cobberdog “Ollie.” An avid runner, Dan has completed four half-marathons!
Fun Facts about Dan
Dan has overseen four organization-wide rebranding projects in his career and he loves brainstorming on a whiteboard.
Founder of The Human Services CMO, a fractional marketing and strategy consultancy focused on the human services sector.
Presented at dozens of conferences across the country on topics ranging from data analytics to AI to organizational culture
“Your database is your most precious asset” is something you’ll probably hear him say if you work with him!
Served as the Chair of the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce 15 years after his role as Marketing Director of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
He’s a dedicated basketball dad - most weekends, you will find him courtside cheering on Jake, who has an impressively consistent free-throw shot
Currently learning Spanish on Duolingo
Since starting his running career at the age of 40, he sends a selfie to Michaele after every run
Catch him in the neighborhoods of Charlestown on any given night, on dog-dad walking duty with Ollie.
