Daniel Ostergaard
Director, Institute for the Economy and the Future
Associate Professor of Management and International Business
Adjunct Professor of Applied Criminology

Mr. Daniel Ostergard serves as the Director for Western Carolina University’s Institute for the Economy and the Future – a regional economic development think tank dedicated to both public and private sector policy development. He spent his childhood growing up in the same county as the University and brings a unique local perspective to the issues facing the region today. Prior to joining the faculty of Western Carolina University, Mr. Ostergaard held a variety of senior positions in Washington, D.C.

After sixteen years of public service associated with various aspects of homeland security, Mr. Ostergaard founded Pelorus Enterprises, LLC. Pelorus Enterprises has become a global consulting firm providing business development and governmental relations services for public and private, domestic and international clients. With an emphasis on sustainable economic development, Pelorus works with U.S. companies who want to grow their market share either domestically or abroad. Likewise, Pelorus works with foreign companies to create beachheads in the market that will lead to relocation of manufacturing and administrative jobs to the U.S. In essence, Pelorus is in the business of “in-sourcing.”

Mr. Ostergaard was appointed as the Executive Director of the Homeland Security Advisory Council in July 2004. His duties included strategic management of the Homeland Security Advisory Council as well as serving as a senior advisor to both Honorable Secretaries of Homeland Security: Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff. The Homeland Security Advisory Council provided strategic policy advice and recommendations directly to the Secretary on a wide range of issues related to homeland security. The Council was comprised of former senior federal officials, as well as leaders from state and local government, the first preventer and first responder communities, the private sector, and academia.

He has previously served as the Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Liaison in Washington, D.C., for the Executive Office of Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Focusing on a host of issues relating to the role of state, local and tribal governments, Mr. Ostergaard worked closely with both the public and private sectors to create partnerships and share best practices.

Prior to his service with the State of Florida, Mr. Ostergaard served on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard for eleven years. A seagoing officer, Mr. Ostergaard served aboard several cutters in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans including command of a patrol boat and a shore-based rescue station. He led numerous homeland security, search and rescue, counter narcotics, and environmental protection operations. He served as the Federal and State Liaison for the Coast Guard’s Office of Governmental and Public Affairs and was the Budget and Fiscal Manager for the Atlantic Major Cutter Fleet.

Mr. Ostergaard graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelors of Science in Government. He holds two Masters Degrees: a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (where he was also the student body President) and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. He served as a Fellow at the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University and as a Senior Policy Fellow at Western Carolina University’s Institute for the Economy and the Future.

He was elected in November 2006 to a non-partisan municipal office serving as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Washington, D.C. His single member district was in the Capitol Hill neighborhood where he emphasized economic development and served as a Community Facilitator for the Washington Metro Police Department’s Police Service Area 106.

Mr. Ostergaard hails from the mountains of North Carolina where he and his wife, Sarah, along with their children, are raising Dexter cattle and a variety of heritage livestock breeds on a farm nestled between the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. They are committed to sustainable economic development, job growth in the region and to preserving our unique mountain heritage.