I was born in Morristown, New Jersey, on September 21, 1960. The youngest of five boys, my father was a World War II veteran, and my mother was an immigrant from Canada. I never really had grandparents – my father’s parents died when he was young, and my mother’s parents died when I was still a toddler. Both my parents have long since passed away (they were almost 40 when I was born). My second oldest brother died at 27 in a fire in December 1980, a memory that still brings me pain to this very day. My other brothers live in Dallas, California, and upstate New York, and we still get together, though not as frequently as we should.

As the old saying goes, I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could. I have lived in Texas almost all of my life, having moved to Houston first and then the Dallas area, where I have lived since the early 1970s. I love Texas and never want to leave. Regarding hobbies, I’m a pretty regular guy – I like watching football (the Dallas Cowboys, of course), playing golf, and running. I try to run 10 miles a week – not bad for a 60 plus year old guy! I also love to barbeque, and I am a bit of a computer wonk as well.

I received my MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago in 1984 and have spent almost my entire career as a financial consultant. I assist publicly owned utilities in preparing long-term financial plans that help them secure financing for capital projects and acquire sufficient funds to operate their systems. I have almost 200 clients across the USA and 5 foreign nations. I have given over 300 public presentations on utility rates, have testified before state commissions and courts on ratemaking matters, and am generally recognized as a national expert in water utility ratemaking. In 1997 my closest friend and I founded Economists.com, and our firm eventually grew to almost a dozen employees. In 2015 we were acquired by Willdan, and now I serve as a Vice President in charge of the southwest operations.

I met my wife at church in early 1992; we were married just over a year later. In March 1995, our first daughter was born, followed by our second daughter in April 1996. Both are now well-adjusted young women. One graduated from Baylor University in 2017 and now works in New York City as a associate producer for Paramount.  The other graduated from the University of Oklahoma in December 2019 and lives in New York City where she works as a medical researcher at Mt. Sinai Hospital. We try to see the girls a few times a year.

For much of my life I have had the pleasure of owning dogs. As a child my family owned a series of cocker spaniels. Then, as a pre-teenager we adopted a miniature schnauzer that had been owned by our neighbors, but that they could not take with them when they moved. They were great dogs, but none lived with us for more than two years. we adopted Norman, a miniature schnauzer, right after we got married, and he gave us 15 wonderful years. After Norman passed, we adopted the sisters, Abby and Bella. Older daughter found a stray dog, Sammie, at Baylor and brought her home, and she became our third dog. I can’t imagine life without a dog.

Writing has long been a hobby of mine, though it is unusual for numbers guys like me to also be writers. When I was a child, I wrote my first novel, a non-published science fiction thriller. Over the years I wrote short stories and novellas. But in 2012 I published my first novel, The Forgotten Men, a cold war epic. In 2020 I published Rainbow Bridge, my second novel which answers the question asked by everyone who has ever loved and lost a dog – do we get to see them again?  More novels in the Rainbow Bridge series are coming!

I enjoy hearing from my readers, particularly their experiences and lives with their own dogs. How did they inspire you?  Did they change their life?  How did they make you a better person?  If you would like to share your story, please feel free to email me at author@danvjackson.com.  I’m always looking for inspiration for my novels!