Dan Horne – Director and Chief Analyst

Known as the Gift Card Guru, Dan Horne is the world’s leading expert on consumer purchase and use of gift cards, an area he has studied since 1992.  Horne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing at Providence College in Rhode Island, USA, where he teaches Consumer Behavior. Horne holds an undergraduate degree in International Economics and a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Michigan.  His doctoral dissertation on consumers’ choice processes in the selection of gifts was published in 1993.

Following his doctoral work, he began a series of large-scale research projects investigating the consumer purchase and usage of gift certificates and cards as well as the role these products play as rewards, incentives, and promotions. His work has been published in both academic and practitioner journals and in 2005 he co-authored, the European Guide to Gift and Stored Value.  In addition, his industry research reports are published 8 times annually in Giftex Prepay’s Global Prepay Intelligence. His latest research project, Guide to Consumer Behaviour in Prepay, is scheduled to be published in early 2008.

For the last fourteen years he has worked as a researcher, analyst and advisor on gift certificates/cards for retailers, financial services companies and suppliers in North America, Europe and Australasia. He provides expert commentary on retailer performance to the financial markets, and to the print and electronic media.  He has served as an advisor to governmental authorities in the US and Canada on issues surrounding the sale and purchase of gift cards. He is a member of the Board of Directors of IncentOne and a Non-Executive Director of Giftex Ltd.