Meet the Dakota Team

Dan has been with Dakota since 2008 and serves as President, overseeing day-to-day operations, product development, and sales strategy for all partner engagements. Beyond leadership, Dan remains an active member of the investment sales team, maintaining direct relationships with institutional consultants, independent broker-dealers, banks, and RIAs. He brings deep experience in both capital raising and compliance, having managed the firm's regulatory infrastructure alongside its commercial growth. Dan brings the operational rigor that keeps The Dakota Way functioning at scale — building systems, setting standards, and holding the team accountable to the process every day.

Jerry Kling brings decades of the highest-level institutional investment experience to Dakota. He is the Co-Founder and former Managing Director of CBRE Clarion Real Assets Securities, one of the leading real asset securities investment management firms in the world, where he served as a Principal and member of the Management Committee. Jerry's career spans investment banking in New York in the 1980s through senior leadership at one of the most prominent institutional investment firms in the country. As Vice Chairman, Jerry brings strategic guidance, institutional relationships, and industry gravitas that serves as a significant asset for Dakota's most senior partner engagements.

Tracy Rogers joined Dakota in 2007 and has been Chief Administrative Officer since 2012. She leads Client Service for the Investment Sales Team, serving as the link between Dakota, its Investment Partners, and allocators, and owns the RFP process and quarterly client communications. She also runs Dakota's Onboarding, Training, and Mentorship Programs and supports compliance for Dakota Investments, the firm's RIA. Tracy sits on the board of the Women in Investing Network (WIN) of Philadelphia.

Tim Dolan was Dakota's first sales hire, joining in 2011 — a milestone that Gui Costin describes in The Dakota Way as the catalyst for documenting and codifying the Dakota sales process. Tim has been instrumental in building and refining the Investment Sales culture, running The Dakota Way alongside Gui from the firm's earliest days of scaling. He covers institutional channels including pension funds, endowments, foundations, and RIAs, applying the same discipline and process that has driven Dakota's results for over a decade.

Eliza Breed leads Dakota's Private Funds practice, overseeing capital raising efforts for Dakota's private alternative investment partners — including private equity, venture capital, private credit, and real estate strategies. As institutional and wealth channel allocations to private alternatives have grown dramatically, Eliza's practice has become a critical and expanding part of Dakota's business. She brings a sophisticated understanding of LP decision-making, private fund structure, and the specific due diligence requirements that institutional investors apply to alternative investment managers.

Andrew O'Shea is one of Dakota's most experienced investment sales professionals and a key contributor to the development of The Dakota Way. Mentioned directly by Gui Costin in The Dakota Way as the voice who reminded him to include "Setting Expectations" as the first core principle, Andrew's instincts and judgment have shaped the firm's sales philosophy. He covers institutional channels with a focus on both long-only and alternative strategies, bringing a deep understanding of LP expectations, consultant dynamics, and the relational dimensions of institutional fundraising that only come from years on the front lines.

Ryan Creighton began his relationship with Dakota as a summer intern in 2012 and joined full time in 2014 — a trajectory that reflects both his commitment to the firm and the firm's investment in his development. A UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School graduate and former student-athlete, Ryan brings competitive discipline and intellectual rigor to his institutional sales practice. He focuses on RIA account management, new business development, and the analytical work of studying product trends, market differentiators, and historical performance across multiple investment channels to generate insights for the team.

Steve Aitken joined the Dakota investment sales team in May 2020, bringing institutional sales experience from Macquarie, where he developed a strong foundation in the mechanics of capital raising and investor relationship management. Steve covers multiple institutional channels across the US and Canada, and also supports Dakota's alternative strategies channel. He has built a reputation for thoroughness, follow-through, and the kind of consistent outreach discipline that The Dakota Way demands. Steve is a Penn State marketing graduate who brings the same competitive energy to capital raising that he brings to snowboarding, golf, and pickleball.

Chase Stitzer joined Dakota in June 2024, bringing a background that sets him apart on any sales floor: four years of service as a Battalion Adjutant in the United States Marine Corps (2019–2023), followed by a role as Senior Policy Associate at Cargill where he developed and delivered messaging to members of Congress and U.S. Senators on complex sustainability and geopolitical issues. That combination of military leadership, strategic communication, and high-stakes persuasion translates directly into the discipline and credibility required for institutional fundraising. Chase also interned at Edgewood Management, one of Dakota's longest-standing partners, giving him a distinctive first-hand view of concentrated equity investment management.