Dan Check

Chief Technology Officer at Ourisman

Silver Spring, Maryland, United States

About Dan Check

Dan Check is Chief Technology Officer at Ourisman. Location: Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.

I'm an executive and technologist who is drawn to areas where technological change has created a challenge, but also an opportunity for existing businesses to modernize and thrive in the future. I joined Slate as the head of the dev team, and over eight years worked my way up to CEO. The owners wanted someone who could turn a struggling but beloved editorial brand into a sustainable business. I focused on diversifying revenue, by growing podcasts and pivoting from advertising to subscriptions. In my first five years as CEO, I delivered a 40 point swing in margin, driven by strong revenue growth on a flat expense base. Early in my career, I built the first national voter file for Democratic campaigns at Catalist—infrastructure that the DNC used for Obama's 2008 run. That taught me how to build data products that scale, as well as how to assess and prioritize customer needs on extremely firm deadlines (elections don’t move). Throughout, I’ve kept coding at the margins, recently prototyping and iterating on our new game, Pears, and building AI-powered search for our book review archive. I love building and shipping new products, and revamping existing products and systems to meet the moment. I live in Silver Spring, MD with my wife, two teenage children, and a cat and a dog.

Skills

  • New Media
  • JavaScript
  • HTML

Additional experience

  • Chief Executive Officer

    Slate Magazine

    October 2018 – June 2026

Education

  • Bachelor of Arts, Pomona College