Dan Halem

Energizer
DISC Type : I

Vice President, Office of the CTO at Microsoft

Scotts Valley, California, United States

Overview

Dan is the Vice President in the Office of the CTO at Microsoft, with a background as a Principal Software Engineer at Google. He has led site reliability for core systems in Ads and Search and has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

He identifies as an Art Critic and took personal time for "Existential Contemplation, " which involved spending time with his animals and catching up on pop culture he had missed over the past couple of decades.

Unique fact: Despite a career as a high-level software engineer and tech executive, he describes his occupation as "Art Critic. "

Personality Overview

Believer

Enthusiastic

Informal

Unlike C or D types, they are vocal with their opinions but not so much with their questions.  They are not always early adopters but can be pursuaded by leveraging strong relationships. They are friendly, approachable and love to make new connections.

Topics They Care About

Site Reliability
Served as the Tech Lead for site reliability for the core systems that power Google Ads and Search.
System Modernization
Initiated and led a major redesign of a search logging and analytics system that was running on 20-year-old code.
Large-Scale Systems
[Predicted] His senior engineering roles at Google and current VP position at Microsoft indicate a deep focus on architecting and managing complex, large-scale technology infrastructures.

Media Appearances

Dan has no verified media appearances

Work History

10-2025
Vice President, Office of the CTO at Microsoft
3-2024 - 10-2024
Principal Software Engineer (Site Reliability) at Google
2-2021 - 3-2024
Existential Contemplation at Personal
3-2007 - 10-2021
Principal Software Engineer at Google
12-2005 - 3-2007
Principal Software Engineer at Kodak EasyShare Gallery(formerly Ofoto)

Education

9-1989 - 6-1993
Bachelor of Arts - BA from University of California, Santa Cruz
1993 - 1998
Education details unavailable from UC Irvine

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 19 Location : Scotts Valley, California, United States Job Level : Leadership Designation : Vice President, Office of the CTO at Microsoft
URL has been copied!

Insights For Selling To Dan

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Talk anecdotally about the customer experience that your product offers
  • Do some small talk, ask them how things are going on their side
  • Use adjectives like ‘amazing’, ‘coolest’, ‘unbelievable’ etc.

DONT's

  • Don’t assume a yes just because they have not said no
  • Avoid cutting into their flow
  • Avoid ifs and buts, don’t talk too much about the risks etc.

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Dan is

  • Relationship and rapport can play an important role, sometimes more than the other factors.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Dan

  • They will probably never say no directly, you have to make that decision yourself.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Dan move?

  • They are not the quickest decision makers, their friendly attitude could be misleading.
  • Can Dan take some risk or not?

  • They can take certain risks that are unlikely to have personal consequences.

You And Dan

Personality Compatibility


Other Microsoft Employees

Explore more public profiles from related professionals at the same organization.

More Profiles

Discover additional public profiles from our index.

Search more profiles

Looking for someone else? Search here for anyone.

Or visit Humantic AI to know more.