Daniel J. Brooks was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 22, 1958. He grew up in the borough of New Eagle, PA in the Monongahela Valley. He graduated from Mon Valley Catholic High School and earned his BA in Economics at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. At age 22 moved to Northern Virginia and started a computer consulting business. In 1982 he married his high school sweetheart, Karen Klein. They currently live in Herndon, Virginia with their 3 children.