Dirk Hallen

Dirk joined Venture Fellows in the Fall of 2009 and is an MBA 2011 Candidate at the McCombs School of Business. Prior to enrolling at McCombs, Dirk spent over two years as the President of Pacific Properties, a retail real estate development company based in Northern California. Before this experience, Dirk worked in Republican politics in various roles including a stint in the Office of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and working as a Regional Director for the US Senate Race of Peter Coors in Colorado. More recently, Dirk directed the gubernatorial campaign of former University of Denver President Marc Holtzman at the young age of 24 before going on to manage the Congressional campaign of Scott Tipton, both in Colorado.

At McCombs, Dirk was elected Cohort Representative by his class and serves on the Graduate Business Council. Additionally, he was selected to be a member of the McCombs Admissions Committee, where he contributes as an admissions blogger. He is also a member of the Graduate Consulting Club, the Clean Tech Group, Net Impact and the Entrepreneurship Society. In the fall of 2009, Dirk was a member of a PLUS student consulting team that explored funding models for innovative educational programs on behalf of the Boston Consulting Group. Dirk is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he earned a B.S. in Agribusiness, a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Economics.

Place of employment pre-McCombs: Pacific Properties Group
Venture Fellows Spring 2010 internship: Texas Tribune
Summer 2010 internship: Booz & Co.