Dan Hoffman is the CEO of Invest Nebraska, where he has collaborated with state partners to build the venture ecosystem in Nebraska. Since 2008, he has led Invest Nebraska, the state’s
Venture Development Organization that invests seed capital in the state’s innovative startups, advises entrepreneurs, and collaborates with public/private partners to build entrepreneurial infrastructure. Invest Nebraska was the most active venture capital seed investor in the Mountain and Midwest Region in 2025 according to Pitchbook. In 2022, Dan served as the Principal Investigator of the Heartland Robotics Cluster which was awarded a $25M grant by the U.S.
Department of Commerce – Economic Development Administration under the Build Back Better Regional Challenge.

Before joining Invest Nebraska, Dan served as a Senior Policy Adviser to Governors Dave Heineman and Mike Johanns. He holds a M.A. in economics and a B.S. in Finance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dan also serves on the Board of Directors for Nebraska Innovation Campus, the Board of Directors for the Nebraska Diplomats, the Advisory Board for the UNL College of Engineering, and President Gold’s University of Nebraska Advisory Board of Excellence. In 2017, he was awarded the Entrepreneurship Advocate Award by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Entrepreneurship Center. Since 1999, Dan has taught economic courses at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, serving as Lecturer in the College of Business – Department of Economics.