We Didn’t Just Study Manufacturing. We Did the Work.
The Dato Group was founded by David and Dana Towle, a husband-and-wife team who spent over 20 years inside the manufacturing industry before building a marketing company around it. Different backgrounds, different skill sets, and one industry they know from the inside out.
Behind the Dato Group
David and Dana didn’t arrive at manufacturing marketing from the outside.
David Towle
Co-Owner
David’s career started at an industrial equipment startup where he worked across every part of the business before settling into sales and marketing. He went on to found a manufacturers’ representative firm in the Southeast, where he took an underperforming territory and built it into the top selling region in the country in under five years.
He continues to own and operate an additional industrial equipment sales and service company today. His understanding of industrial marketing comes from years of selling complex equipment to technical buyers.
Dana Towle
Co-Owner
Dana’s background is in operations and process improvement, built across both startup and corporate environments. That combination gives her a clear view of what slows companies down at every stage. The bottlenecks that paralyze small businesses and the bureaucracy that stalls large ones.
She has been credited by the companies she’s worked with as a catalyst for operational improvement, bringing the kind of discipline and follow-through that turns good strategy into consistent execution.
They built The Dato Group around two things that consistently hold back manufacturers, distributors, and sales organizations: marketing that speaks to technical buyers and the business systems to support it.
Yes, a married partnership. Here’s why that works:
Married business partners come with an asterisk. What happens when things get tense? What happens when they disagree? Those are fair questions and ones worth answering directly.
David and Dana have known each other longer than they haven’t. The partnership has been tested well beyond the walls of any office environment and figuring out over time exactly what each person brings to the table. That clarity breeds respect.
They stay in their lanes, but they’re not afraid to fiercely debate their differences when it matters. That kind of honesty doesn’t slow things down. It makes the work better.
David handles the market-facing side: sales strategy, client relationships, and the industrial expertise that shapes how a client’s business gets positioned.
Dana owns operations and execution: the systems, the process, and the follow-through that makes sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Different strengths, clear lanes, and a shared standard for getting things done.
This isn’t just business to us
We’ve seen what happens when manufacturing leaves a community, and when it grows. The difference is clear: strong manufacturing builds strong communities, where people take pride in their work, support each other, and create things that last. We’ve worked alongside these companies, and that’s why we help them grow.
what our clients say
Let’s See if We’re a Good Fit