A longtime resident of greater Indianapolis, Indiana, Dan Klausner attended North Central High School, where he became a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist and placed ninth in the National High School Chess Championships. He subsequently matriculated at Indiana University in Bloomington to earn a bachelor of science in accounting as a member of the Business Honors Program. Dan Klausner also received honors as an Arthur R. Metz scholar and the Sigma Alpha Mu scholar for the 1982-3 school year.

After graduation, Dan Klausner established himself as a Wall Street professional with areas of expertise that ranged from institutional fixed income sales to multinational insurance company mergers and IPOs. Working out of Indianapolis, he served in senior vice president positions with Prudential Securities from 1996 to 2001 and with UBS from 2001 to 2005. Since 2004, Mr. Klausner has overseen a variety of business acquisitions and sales as a managing member of Silver Birch Companies in the north Indianapolis suburb of Carmel.