Dave Vance Named FamilyTreeDNA General Manager

FamilyTreeDNA proudly welcomes David Vance as General Manager! Read along as he shares his passion for genetic genealogy and the expertise he brings to the role.

By: Dave Vance

FamilyTreeDNA has graciously allowed me to personally make the announcement that I have accepted the position of General Manager responsible for FamilyTreeDNA, Inc. within the MyDNA, Inc. portfolio of companies.

In job announcements, you’d normally see the person say how excited they are to join one of the world’s leading genetic genealogy companies in a leadership role or make some similar bland statement. In this case, though, I can’t find the words to even begin to capture my excitement. Many of you know that I retired early a little over a year ago to focus entirely on genetic genealogy. I still think it’s a dream that I can be even a small part of what FamilyTreeDNA can continue to offer to this evolving integration of life science and social science that we all love and practice.

A Little About Me: My Journey in Genetic Genealogy

For those who don’t know me, in my earlier professional career I was first a programmer but eventually spent my time leading large technology services contracts. I also have pursued genealogy for over 40 years and have been involved in genetic genealogy for about 20.

In addition to serving as Group Project Administrator and Co-Administrator on various surname and haplogroup projects, I’ve written tools for genetic genealogy (SAPP – Still Another Phylogeny Program – being perhaps the most well-known) and wrote an introduction to Y-DNA for genealogists (available on Amazon).

I’ve also written other articles and presented at various conferences about genetic genealogy, and over the past few years I have been the editor of the Journal of Genetic Genealogy (JoGG).

Passing the Torch: Seeking the Next Editor for JoGG

As I start this new role in the genetic genealogy community I will need to give up my role as editor of JoGG to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest; so I’m asking anyone who wants to be considered for the journal editor to please leave a comment below and I will respond with contact information. It does require an experienced (and objective, fair and rational) genetic genealogist but it’s a fantastic role and a great service to the community.

Balancing My New Role with Long-Time Passions

I don’t plan to let this slow me down (well, not much at least) in developing more videos and other resources, writing and commenting on social media and speaking on topics that I feel are important to genetic genealogy, though I now may focus on resources both for FamilyTreeDNA customers and resources for the genetic genealogy community.

I have always taken pains to be objective, fair and rational (well, in my own view anyway) and I will continue to recommend FamilyTreeDNA only when I truly believe they are the best choice. In other words I plan to stay objective, fair, and rational and those who challenge me on that repeatedly will find I will lose my resolve to be rational long before I lose my resolve to be objective and fair.

I’ll keep SAPP and its associated companion tools up and running (and no, no immediate plans to roll SAPP into the FamilyTreeDNA tools!). I’ll still be a project administrator and the DNA advisor for my surname association. I’ll keep my Y-DNA book current with new editions as needed. And I’ll of course honor the speaking engagements I have accepted and accept new ones on genetic genealogy topics as long as the groups involved don’t see a conflict with my new role.

I know many of you have great ideas on where FamilyTreeDNA should focus their attention next and believe me, if you’ve ever posted them in the social media channels where we all hang out, I’ve probably read them. For right now my immediate priority is just finding a decent picture for my company id!