About Dan

Dan Gehlbach is a native of Urbandale and graduate of Urbandale High School. For the past 16 years Dan has called Dallas County Urbandale home. He moved  back home to Iowa in 2006 to start a family and eventually start his business. Dan currently serves on the Waukee School Board after being elected in 2019.

Dan is running for the Iowa House to keep Iowa competitive and foster the same values and climate that led him back to raise his family. Dan is committed to allowing parents to direct their child’s education by funding students instead of systems, protecting individual freedoms, including keeping the government from mandating what we put in our bodies, and a state tax structure to attract businesses and native Iowans back to the state, while giving excess funds back to hard working Iowans.

Dan and his wife Staci have 2 daughters that are excited to be attending Des Moines Christian where they are in 9th and 6th grade. Dan and Staci own and operate Mathnasium Learning Center in West Des Moines. Their center has been open since 2011 and has helped hundreds, if not thousands, of kids reach their potential and thrive in math. 

Dan was formerly on the Waukee Community School District’s Board of Directors where he served as past Vice-President. He was elected in November 2019 to a four-year term. He resigned in November 2022 following his election to the Iowa House of Representatives. 

Prior to being elected, Dan served on the Waukee Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors where he chaired both the scholarship and ambassadors’ committees, the Waukee Schools Foundation Board where he chaired the scholarship committee, two Waukee School Boundary Committees, was a nationally elected member of the Mathnasium Franchise Advisory Committee, and is a past graduate of the West Des Moines Leadership Academy.

Dan holds a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Kansas. Before starting Mathnasium, Dan was a Certified Internal Auditor and worked in the healthcare, gaming, and publishing industries. Dan also spent 2 years overseas in Japan as a High School Teacher. Dan’s wife Staci is also a former elementary school teacher.

Dan and Staci attend Eternity Church in Clive where they are both active members in their new church home. Dan has served in many volunteer roles while attending Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines and Waukee including teaching Sunday school and hosting small groups for the Alpha course. Dan has also sponsored and volunteered at many PTO fundraisers as well as being a constant presence at school (prior to Covid). Some of these include the Walnut Hills Fun Run, S.T.E.A.M. Fest, Striders, and Watch D.O.G.S.