Daniel Tangherlini was appointed to the Postal Service Board of Governors by President Joseph R. Biden and confirmed by the Senate on May 12, 2022. Tangherlini will serve for a term expiring December 8, 2027. He currently chairs the Board’s Audit and Finance Committee.

Tangherlini has an extensive background in public administration, business, finance and corporate governance. He has served in leadership roles in the public, nonprofit and private sectors. His interest is in bringing increased equity and effectiveness to business, philanthropy, and government through the thoughtful application of technology, process and systems reform. He is currently a managing director with the Emerson Collective, a private philanthropic and investment firm dedicated to removing barriers to opportunity so that people can live to their fullest potential. He served as its first chief financial officer until the fall of 2020.

Before joining Emerson, Tangherlini was the president of the technology start-up Seamless Docs Federal. He also founded an urban systems consulting practice, City’s Garage. Before that, he was the chief operating officer of Artemis Real Estate Partners, a real estate private equity firm with commercial real estate investments across the United States. Before Artemis, Tangherlini served as administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), having been nominated to serve in the position by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. As the agency head of GSA beginning in 2012, he identified creative ways to leverage unused government assets, particularly real property, including launching a series of high-value property exchange and redevelopment proposals such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Headquarters in Washington, DC; Volpe Transportation Research Center in Massachusetts; and Moffett Federal Airfield in California. He also launched a technology advisory practice to serve other government agencies called 18F.

Tangherlini served as the chief financial officer at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2009 to 2013 (also a Senate-confirmed position), concurrently serving as the assistant secretary for management. Before his role at Treasury, he managed operations, budget development and performance management of District of Columbia agencies when he served as the city administrator and deputy mayor from 2006 to 2009. While city administrator, he also served as vice chair of the board of directors for the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (now DC Water). In 2006, he served as the interim general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, having previously served on its board of directors. From 2000 to 2006, he served as director of the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, and from 1998 to 2000, as chief financial officer of the Metropolitan Police Department. From 1997 to 1998, he served in the Office of Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and from 1991 to 1997, he served in various capacities at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Tangherlini received a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in public policy studies from the University of Chicago, and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania.

Latest update: December 2023