Ben’s first exposure to nonprofit work was helping his dad at charity golf events. He was one of those kids helping folks park their cars, get their carts, and find their balls when they didn’t quite hit the green. Since that time, he has been doing what he could to make the world a better place. 

He started out working as a lifeguard when in high school. Then, after college, went on to substitute teach in Columbus Public Schools and Kent City Schools for three years. In 2011, he moved out to Tucson, Arizona, where he received his Masters in Education and spent three years teaching high school mathematics. It was during this time that he started to work more with nonprofit organizations. He did work with Voices for Education – helping them in 2011 deploy a coherent social media strategy. He also volunteered for numerous political campaigns and helped the Artifact Dance Company build out their major gift program and technical backend to support their giving program, ticketing system, and store. 

After seven years of teaching, Ben wanted to see what would be available outside the classroom. He then started working for the University of Arizona Health Sciences (UAHS) Development team. For the first six months, he did data management (Raiser’s Edge), prospecting, and worked with the stewardship and cultivation teams. He then moved on to be a major gift officer, soliciting gifts between $25,000 and $250,000 to support student scholarships, cutting-edge research, and basic science innovations. Ben learned the ropes of fundraising with UAHS and then had an opportunity to apply those skills working with the Sabin Vaccine Institute, in Washington, DC, to help them build out a major gift program and to rebuild their database (Salesforce). 

Ben currently works for Engaging Networks as their Senior Director of Global Client Success. He leads a team of folks at Engaging Networks that work with nonprofits on their supporter engagement and digital strategy around fundraising, advocacy, and email marketing. He spends his time making sure that clients can take advantage of a robust eCRM platform. He also works to ensure that clients understand how their technology stack works together to allow them to raise more money, get more clicks, and push out more advocacy actions. 

Ben brings a technology-first mindset to much of his work. He works to help clients realize that their digital strategy is most valuable when it permeates all parts of an organization.

When not helping out clients, Ben enjoys spending time with his partner, two dogs, and a cat at their place in South Arlington. You can probably find him running throughout our city most mornings. He is also working towards his MBA through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — focusing on Global Challenges in Business & Strategic Leadership and Management.