Dan Rivers, along with the members of Nexus Alliance, share a common vision – to have a positive impact on children in need and persons of color, regardless of age, residing in underserved neighborhoods through community events and related initiatives. Nexus is a nonprofit organization that has a vision to conduct activities focusing on: personal and career development, education, networking and personal betterment strategies amongst its members, while reaching out to the broader community to promote Nexus’ core values centered on community engagement and development.

African American males, and men of color are the communities primarily served by Dan Rivers and the Nexus Alliance. Dan’s goal is to focus on those who need him most. There is a growing need in the following areas:
1. African American professionals that are starting out in their careers. There is a cross-generational need in this area, as these men have the ability to learn from older, more seasoned professionals. A transfer of knowledge takes place, and this has many outstanding benefits for both the mentor a nd the mentee.

2. Youths that may require social guidance, such as fitting into society and advice before applying to college. These youths benefit from a mentor relationship significantly, and Nexus continues to strive to meet this growing need in the community. Currently, 25 percent of the mentors are men of color and 75 percent of the mentees are youths of color. This disproportionate percentage of the number of mentors of color, for kids of color, is something that Dan is working hard to amend.

3. Youths that are more established, and require a mentor relationship to help them decide upon their college and/or career path. Nexus has partnered with several local college students from MIT, Bentley, Mass Bay, and Holy Cross to host career nights where Nexus men provide “real answers” to the trials and tribulations of corporate America, and the keys to success and the accountability of leadership. To date, Dan and Nexus have engaged more than 120 students.

Dan Rivers represents a new era of leadership in the black community. With over 20 years of community outreach, Dan has successfully and intuitively established an organization that promotes, encourages and supports community development in Massachusetts. He is determined to promote a positive image of black men in America through leadership and community engagement.

He is particularly valuable to our community because of his values and beliefs, and because he genuinely wants to make the world a better place. He knows that by fostering the bonds among members of the community - anything is possible. He mentors, inspires and empowers young black men to believe in themselves and to know that they can achieve their dreams. He provides a new voice of leadership in the black community, and is helping to pave the way for our black youth.

Dan currently volunteers with a program called “Real Men Read”. This initiative takes place at a local Charter school, Roxbury Preparatory School, where he meets with an inner-city youth on a bi-weekly basis for three hours. During these sessions, he engages the child with his love of knowledge, education and community outreach.

Another example of Dan’s leadership follows his belief in “Collective Success“ and the motto of Nexus of “Working together … succeeding together”. One the many examples of this mantra is a program called “Nexus Showcase”, where selected members of Nexus are given five minutes to showcase their business at one of their monthly meetings. In turn, the men give fellow Nexus members a discount on their products and/or services. This is another exemplary form of how Nexus is taking networking to the next level of relationship building through mentoring and action. It is also a powerful financial case study to quantify the aggregate financial power that can be achieved by Nexus men working together.

Dan’s leadership has fostered a high-level of communication bridging across the different communities served by Nexus Alliance. Dan, and his fellow Nexus members recently hosted an event called the “Nexus Teen Summit”, which was attended by approximately 60 youths from underserved communities. During the summit, many issues were discussed, including: how to respect yourself, proper work attire, and the history of the “N” word and its profound impact on today’s young men and professionals. The result of this summit was the overwhelming amount of youth that were proactive in their approach to the college and the application process.

Many of the youths participating in the Nexus mentorship program are currently applying to, and attending college, and some are receiving internships. These relationships will continue to be fostered over the years as Nexus Alliance and Mass Mentoring, of which Dan is an Advisory Board Member, is in the process of working on the next evolution of The Nexus Alliance Mentor program that will include social and emotional intelligence.

Dan is the ultimate family man. He believes that family comes second to none. He is happily married to a successful entrepreneur, who works in the area of diversity staffing. He has six children - one of whom is adopted, one is from another marriage and a set of twins. It is because of these six treasures that he dreams of leaving a positive legacy, and wants to ensure success for their futures.

From a career standpoint, Dan is a seasoned executive who offers 22 years of experience in the financial services industry, and more than 10 years of credit analysis proficiency. He has proven success in sales, business development, and strategic consulting for Fortune 500 corporations and multimillion-dollar relationships with a multitude of clientele. Throughout his career, he has almost always been the only person of color. This has further encouraged and helped drive his passion for community involvement.

Dan is currently on the Board of Overseers for the Boys and Girls Club, the Board of Directors of Massachusetts Service Alliance, and the Crispus Attucks School. He is on the Advisory Board of Mass Mentor Association. Dan is currently Vice President for the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP), and is on the Roxbury Latin Alumni Council.

In addition to Nexus, he continues to give his time as a volunteer for the Rose Fund, Ride for Peace and is a member of the Lead Boston Program 2010. Dan is involved in many other panels and discussions, where he can voice his beliefs and opinions, speaking truth to power.

Dan has recently won the Boston Neighborhood Fellow Program Award, the Freedom House Funds Day Award for best New Initiative for 2009, and received Best Non-Profit Initiative from Alpha Fraternity.

Dan Rivers and the Nexus Alliance have been gaining momentum in the media over the past year. They have used the mediums to help spread the word of their efforts, and were the first African-American organization featured on the front page of the Boston Business Journal.

Dan has regularly volunteered with children in need, in both his personal and professional life because he feels that every child needs to be told that “they are worthy”. In his professional career, he has always been the “only” one, so he has worn the many hats of: mentor, mentee and leader. He considers black male professionals to be the invisible people to today’s world. He, along with the men of Nexus, are determined to enlighten our youth of today and let them know that these men exist - and that they do care.