Paul Dans directs Heritage’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project, organizing policy and personnel recommendations and training for appointees in the next presidential administration.

Prior to joining Heritage, Dans served in the Trump Administration as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management where he managed the federal agency in charge of human resources policy for the more than two million federal workers. He also served as OPM’s White House liaison and worked integrally with the White House Office of Presidential Personnel to staff the approximately 4000 presidential appointees across the federal government. In January 2021, President Trump appointed Dans to serve as Chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission.

Before his time at OPM, Dans was a Senior Advisor in the Office of Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. An attorney, he has extensive experience in high-stakes commercial litigation. His 20 years of practice include work at several large international law firms in New York City from 1997-2012, prior to founding his own law firm.

Dans is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and received his graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives in South Carolina with his wife and four children.