Yale School of Management - Alumni Leaders

"In almost every single working day I find myself applying the principles, practices, and knowledge acquired at Yale SOM. I have found that the lessons afforded to me both in the classroom and especially outside of it have been a professional bedrock for me. For anyone considering the need of a world-class business education in an environment which is both tough and nurturing, I would recommend Yale SOM without hesitation."

Daniel T. Ciporin is currently a venture partner with Canaan Partners, a leading venture capital firm with over $3 billion under management. At Canaan Dan is responsible for consumer-facing digital media investments. Since 2007 when he joined Canaan Partners he has led investments and sits on the boards of Lending Club, the leading peer-to-peer lending network; Peer39, a semantic advertising technology company; OpenSky, a company with a new and presently stealth offering in the field of “community commerce”; and Paragon Lake, a web 3.0 maker of custom-made jewelry.

Dan is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Shopping.com Ltd., a publicly traded online comparison shopping service. As CEO of the company beginning in 1999, Ciporin oversaw the company’s growth from zero to over $130 million in revenues and $20 million in profits in just 5 years, culminating in the company’s initial public offering in October 2004. He continued to serve as CEO of the company until June of 2005, at which time the company announced that it would be acquired by Ebay for approximately $620 million. During his tenure Shopping.com became the leader and dominant player in the newly emerging sector of comparison shopping, and was the third largest ecommerce site on the web (Comscore Media Metrix) at the time of the sale to Ebay.

Prior to Shopping.com, Mr. Ciporin served as senior vice president of MasterCard International, responsible for global debit services. In this position, he was responsible for the marketing and product management of all MasterCard electronic debit products, including the MasterCard/Cirrus ATM Network and the Maestro global, online point-of-sale (POS) debit program. His efforts helped establish the company’s 70% market share in the global electronic debit market.

Prior to joining MasterCard, Mr. Ciporin was a management consultant for Mars and Co. and Corporate Value Associates, and was responsible for conducting strategy studies for Fortune 500 companies. In 1980 and 1981, Mr. Ciporin was director of Educational Programs for the Sakaeo Refugee Camp, a Cambodian refugee camp in Sakaeo, Thailand. The camp was run by the International Rescue Committee as part of a United Nations-funded program.

Mr. Ciporin earned his AB degree at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs from Princeton University in 1980 and his MBA degree at the Yale School of Management in 1986. He is a member of the board of directors of public companies Primedia (PRM), a leading targeted media company, and Corel (CREL), a developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software. He also currently serves as a senior advisor and board member to a variety of high growth private companies and boards in addition to his work with Canaan.