Executive Producer, Pikewood Creative
by Mallory Carpenter
AS EXECUTIVE producer for Pikewood Creative, Dan Lohmann gets to work with a wide variety of people on countless projects in his community, but one area in particular holds a special place in his heart—the sports games. “I wanted to be a pro athlete because I thought it would be a pretty good deal to get paid to play sports,” he recalls of his childhood career choice. “As a kid, I thought I’d end up in the NBA.” While he may not be an NBA player, Dan is an MVP in the creative production industry who earned an Emmy for his work on the 2010 United Bank “Anticipation” ad spot.
Dan says he got started in the media business thanks to friend and mentor Tony Caridi. “Toward the end of my senior year in high school, I called up Tony to see if I could come talk to him about what a career in sports broadcasting was like,” he remembers. “I had known of him because of the sports I had played growing up. He sat and talked to me for a couple of hours at West Virginia Radio Corporation in Morgantown about the business.” Later, when Dan finished college, it was Tony who let him know that the Mountaineer Sports Network was looking for a graduate assistant. “I applied and landed the job and got incredible hands-on experience in sports television while getting my Master’s degree in sports management at West Virginia University.”
In addition to his regular production work with Pikewood Creative, Dan has worked for the Olympics host broadcaster for every Olympics event in the past seven years. It was after finishing up work on the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics that Dan decided to pursue working in West Virginia. “In terms of work, I literally could not have a better job anywhere else in the country…I looked in all parts of the country for a job in sports television, and the best opportunity I had was in West Virginia with Pikewood Creative,” he says.
Dan says he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, either professionally or personally. “Once you leave the state, you realize how special this place is,” he says. “The people are real and my wife and I can’t imagine our lives without the friends and family that we have here. I work for an incredibly loyal company and I want to pay them back for the opportunity that has been given to me.”
Aside from his work at Pikewood, Dan has been active on the board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for the last five years and coaches youth soccer and basketball. He also devotes time to support Chestnut Mountain Ranch, a home for troubled teen boys, where he has produced videos to help tell the ranch’s story. He finds himself fortunate to be able to use his creative gifts for the good of the community by producing the annual United Way fundraising video each year.
Dan believes that all of his own success is due to two things: the opportunities God has given him and his attitude towards his work, something he learned from his mother. “My mom—she is the hardest working person I’ve ever known. She instilled in me a strong work ethic and the importance of finishing a job and doing it well.” He believes that this philosophy—hard work and not settling for average—got him where he is today “There is no replacement for hard work,” he says. “I realize that I am incredibly blessed with the opportunity I have been given, and every day I want to prove that I am appreciative of what I have been given.”
Photography by Tracy Toler on location at Stonewall Resort
