Dan Keshian ’79, MSF ’88 is a serial startup starter. The Bentley trustee and Massachusetts native has made a career of turning the inspirations of local scientists and engineers into successful, industry-changing enterprises. His specialty: building companies around technology breakthroughs.
His own professional path started with a breakthrough of sorts. The son of a teacher and a policeman, Keshian arrived at Bentley after one year at a local technical college – prompted by a question from his economics teacher.
“He said, ‘What are you doing here? You should be at Bentley,’” recalls Keshian, who earned a BS in Accountancy and joined the Pennsylvania-based Laventhol & Horwath.
“I was moving up the accounting ladder, but honestly, I was more interested in what my clients were doing,” he says of companies such as Analogic and Empire of Carolina. “The area was full of engineers with great ideas – rapidly evolving, technically complex products and systems in all kinds of industries."
Wowing the Industry
As the high-tech field ramped up, Keshian listened to his gut and followed his passion to a succession of industry pioneers. One was a modest startup focused on video editing. He signed on as president in 1989 and quickly saw that the company – Avid Technologies – was at the forefront of a revolution.
“Video editing was something everyone could understand instantly,” he says, describing product demos that used Avid software to create jaw-dropping effects (one demo featured a missile edited in from the movie Top Gun).
In 1990, with virtually no revenue, Avid showed its wares at the National Association of Broadcasters convention. The industry was wowed and Avid rode the momentum to $7 million in sales that year.
"I got to do everything," Keshian says of those early days. "I worked with sales, product line development, engineering -- all over the company."
Avid's growth to $400 million in sales was a mixed blessing for a guy who thrives on keeping a hand in every corner of the business. Drawn back to the realm of startups, he took the reins at two fledgling companies -- and built each before respective sales to Cisco and IBM. A subsequent move into venture capital culminated with a startup to call his own: Fairhaven Capital Management.
“Helping entrepreneurs build a business is what we do best,” he says of the four-year-old company. “We try to understand markets, then look for technologies that can disrupt them and scale quickly.”
Education at Work
Keshian’s trusteeship at Bentley began in 2003, when son Tim was preparing to attend. Then-President Joe Morone and trustees Terry Carleton ’77 and Tim Harbert ’76 discussed board membership and, he says, “I thought it would be fun and I might be able to help a bit.”
His focus, naturally, is the Information Services Committee, which he chairs; he serves on the Executive, Investment, and Academic Affairs committees as well.
“The wonderful thing about Bentley is how it helps kids find their spot,” observes Keshian, who lives in Boston with wife Susan. Their son Tim has graduated and daughter Amanda is a rising junior. “You learn business, but you can touch all these different areas and study so many different things."
This multifaceted blend of business and the liberal arts is a strength that Keshian aims to preserve in his trustee role. "Someone going through Bentley comes out with a really positive, valuable education -- something they can really put to work," he observes. "I know I did."