Dan Nechita is the founder and Managing Director of Vanguard Europe. Before Vanguard, Dan led the technical negotiations for the EU AI Act on behalf of the European Parliament. Previously, he was a State Counselor for the Prime Minister of Romania, with a mandate on e-governance and cybersecurity. He is a World Economic Forum expert on AI governance and an affiliated expert with the UN Secretary General's High Level Advisory Body and has served as an expert evaluator for the European Commission. 

Outside public service, Dan built and ran a high-profile think tank promoting European digitalization and a boutique consultancy with clients ranging from security and defense, aviation, IT, and health companies to diplomatic missions and central government entities.

Dan held various roles at the World Security Institute; at the Brookings Institution Center of Executive Education; at the ABC News Political Unit; and as a research assistant for legendary international relations scholars Kenneth Waltz and Robert Jervis at Columbia. He is a graduate of the George Washington University and Columbia University.

Dan founded Vanguard Europe with the belief that a mission-driven company, combining the best attributes of a high-end consultancy and of a specialized think tank, can be the most effective organization form for high-impact projects in the European Union political landscape.