Dan co-founded Dan’s Depot several years ago with childhood friend, Matt Longley. Dan and Matt grew up together in Upstate New York. They became great friends in High School and finally started their dream company. Matt is the Visionary and Dan is Lead Survival Enthusiast and Namesake for the company.
As a youngster, Dan was first bit by the survival bug when his Dad gave him a copy of his “Old School” Boy Scout manual. Now, Dan’s Depot gives him and the staff he and Matt have assembled, the opportunity to share and help others to be prepared.
Our Survival Instructor from Winchester, Kentucky has spent a lifetime learning how to be more self-reliant. He founded Nature Reliance School in 2006 to pass on survival, and preparedness skills to beginners and advanced persons alike. We hope you enjoy his weekly blogs and Youtube content along with his great sense of humor.
Matt co-founded Dan’s Depot with childhood friend Dan Bacon after realizing a need in the industry for quality gear and knowledgeable staff. “Survival gear is something we have always been passionate about.” Matt is the Big Idea Guy with a natural talent for leadership and surrounding himself with great people.
Our highly creative Warehouse Manager, also from Upstate New York, became friends with Matt in High School. From the beginning, Nate was considered the perfect target audience for Dan’s Depot. “I knew nothing about it at first, but I knew it was incredibly important to be prepared and wanted to learn.”
Our award-winning Creative and Marketing Director is most proud of his Eagle Scout award. He grew up in Maine, North Carolina and Kentucky, often getting into trouble with his parents for building hammocks, bridges and forts in their yard. He also read all their Foxfire books regularly and drew up all kinds of plans he now gets to bring to life.
Our talented and technically-savvy Marketing Geek, started working for Dan’s in 2011. Originally from Upstate New York, Jeff met Matt in Youth Group. His favorite thing about working at Dan’s is receiving “Big Thank You’s” via Social Media. His interest in survival may have prompted a recent upgrade from an old Camry to a new 4x4 Jeep.
Our Physician and Medical Writer is from Hudson County, New Jersey, birthplace of Baseball, Frank Sinatra and “The Sopranos.” “I’ve always been the “outdoors type” even being from the city. Going into the woods was always a great way to escape the hustle, bustle and noise of the city.”
Our Social Media and Forum Guy from Versailles, Kentucky, Ethan is a Computer Wiz. He is currently working on his Business Marketing degree at the University of Kentucky. “Every day I get to spend on the forums and interacting with customers and forum members and potential customers is memorable for me.”
Currently serving as Dan’s Depot Bean Counter, Adrian handles Website Administration and Customer Service. A Californian, Adrian spent 25 years in computers and business. His family now manages a natural farm in Kentucky. We all enjoy the great feedback he regularly passes along to the team from our customers.
We fondly call him Bro Mike. He’s our Graphic Designer from the Far East. We all enjoy teaming up with him when we need artwork and computer graphics for Dan’s Depot. Thanks to his great eye, speed and knowledge on the computer you are currently looking at an example of his excellent work right now.
“One summer long ago at a girl’s camp I taught outdoor cooking and was determined NOT to use gas to get a fire started. I heard the guys in boy’s camp had to do that and I wanted to be better!” Our Blogger and published Writer and Collector of interesting survival stories and information is from Pennsylvania.
Another of our overseas experts, Vince is a key Developer and Programmer for the Dan’s Depot website. He’s fluent in PHP coding and languages like Javascript and if it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t be reading this or enjoying our site. Besides taking care of our technical needs, Vince admits he likes survival gear, especially knives.