Dan is a respected national leader and strategist with a distinguished career in higher education. He brings his dynamic vision and industry expertise to Baker Tilly after serving as the Chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) for six years and reinforces the firm’s ability to help higher education institutions and systems nationwide meet today’s complex challenges.
Over his 30 years of higher education leadership experience, Dan has a successful track record of catalyzing innovations that improve the industry’s performance to deliver affordable, high quality, career-relevant postsecondary education for all. His work with universities, colleges and the service providers that support them leverages innovative educational and business models and advanced technology and scales efficiencies to enhance student outcomes and bolster institutions’ financial resilience. His work in state and federal public policy emphasizes the development of data-driven funding and policy decisions that improve higher education’s performance as an engine of workforce development and social mobility, as well as its transparency and accountability.
Throughout his leadership, Dan has demonstrated astute communication, analytical problem-solving, strategic thinking and change leadership capabilities, coupled with political sensitivities that enable coalition building that is required to succeed in transformational and pioneering work in the sector.
At Baker Tilly, Greenstein leads initiatives that enable universities and colleges to respond effectively to the rapidly evolving needs of students, their communities and the nation, and to successfully navigate significant and mounting reputational, political, demographic, financial and other headwinds.
- Transformed Pennsylvania’s $2.3 billion, 85,000-student, 10-university public higher education system
• Lowering student cost, growing enrollment and improving student outcomes
• Building a bi-partisan coalition that increased state support by over 30% in four years
• Leading a communications campaign that rehabilitated PASSHE’s public reputation
- Drove initiatives that respond to changing needs and trends in higher education
• Leveraging technology that makes higher education accessible to all irrespective of location, family and work commitments, and that personalizes learning and learner support to enhance student outcomes
• Building credentialing pathways that respond to employer needs, including those supporting historically underserved learners, such as adults seeking to re-skill and upskill through short-course credentialing programs
• Applying technology, data analytics and innovative scale solutions to expand access and improve outcomes for students, and improve quality and lower unit cost of business, administrative and student-facing functions
• Working closely at federal and state levels and across the political spectrum with elected representatives and their staff and advocacy groups to create state and federal funding and policy environments that enable improved performance of the nation’s higher education sector
- Invested in developing and scaling innovations that improved performance of universities nationally as engines of workforce development and social mobility
- Developed an innovative suite of shared services for the University of California System that focused on academic and related programs and functions, expanding students’ learning opportunities and research access to scholarly information
- Built accountability frameworks for the University of California and PASSHE, leveraging these as vehicles for continuous performance improvement and strengthening political support and the public trust
- Built advance data analytical capability at PASSHE and, through investment of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on a national scale, promulgating their use driving performance improvement and market responsiveness across the sector
- National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
- Eastern Association of College and University Business Officers (EACUBO)
- American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
- State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO)
- The Institute for College Access and Success, policy advocacy group operating at federal and state levels
- Excelsior University, board member
- The Institute of College Access and Success, board member
- Motivational speaker and panelist, including recent speaking appearances at SHEEO, EACUBO, ASU/GSV and P3 events as well as invitational gatherings hosted by universities, higher education philanthropies and service providers
- Frequently invited as a guest on various higher education podcasts
- Collaborative combinations to support student success and institutional sustainability: lessons for boards from PASSHE’s path toward integration, 2021 AGB National Conference on Trusteeship, panelist
- Certified Strategy Professional, KPI Mega Library
- Certificate in AI Business Leadership, Management and Strategy Institute
- SHEEO 2024 Exceptional Agency Award for Innovation and Student Success
- EdTech Magazine 2024 Higher Ed IT Influencers to Follow
- City & State Pennsylvania, 2024 Trailblazers in Higher Education
- City & State Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Power 100 (2019-2024)
- City & State Pennsylvania, Higher Education Power 100 (2019-2024)
- Ellucian 2023 Impact Award for Institutional Resilience
- 2022 EdScoop 50 Awards, Higher Education IT Executive of the Year
- Association for Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) 2021-2022 John W. Nason Award for Board Leadership
