Dan Monaghan

Background

About Dan Monaghan

Dan’s entry into the world of entrepreneurship began at the age of 19 when he became a franchisee with Dickie Dee – an ice cream bicycle operation in Canada. He used the profits from this franchise business to put himself through university at Sir Wilfred Laurier University. With several entrepreneurial successes behind him, and a national best-selling book to his credit (Why Not Me?), Dan founded WSI at the age of 27. Over the last 28 years, WSI has grown to become the largest digital marketing franchise organization in the world. WSI’s latest book, Digital Minds, was released in 2013 and quickly achieved best-seller status. Now in its third edition, it is now available in 4 languages and is one of the top-rated digital marketing books available through Amazon.In 2006 Dan founded Clear Summit Group (CSG), a private equity firm that invests in early-stage high-growth franchise and technology companies. In addition to Dan’s ongoing role with WSI, the CSG portfolio includes Tutor Doctor (world leader in in-home education), Qualicare (specializing in case-managed medical home care), Recruiting In Motion (staffing and recruitment), College Pro (youth entrepreneurship) and Code Wiz (coding and robotics for kids). Today the CSG portfolio of companies includes over 1500 franchise units in countries around the world.Dan is passionate about education and has often lectured on franchising at universities like Cornell and Georgetown and others. Dan is the Chair of the IFA Foundation and sits on the IFA Board of Directors. Dan is also the founder of "Make Child Poverty History", a worldwide outreach program operated in partnership with World Vision.