“We Do Good by Doing Well.”
Benjamin Orbach is a senior executive, social impact strategist, author, and global community-development leader whose career has been shaped by a conviction that meaningful social progress and strong organizational performance can—and should—advance together. For more than 20 years, he has designed, led, and evaluated initiatives addressing complex public-policy and cultural challenges across the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. His experience spans government service, international development, nonprofit leadership, professional sports, strategic philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and grassroots community engagement.
As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Ascendant Athlete, Benjamin leads a nationally recognized advisory firm that helps professional athletes, clubs, leagues, foundations, and advocacy organizations build social-impact platforms that transcend the field, court, or ice. He serves as a senior strategist to league offices, team executives, and athlete-led foundations, advising them on strategic planning, governance, fundraising, community programming, partnership development, brand alignment, impact evaluation, and public engagement. His work reflects a rare ability to connect an organization’s institutional goals with authentic community needs and translate that alignment into credible, measurable action.
Benjamin has played an influential role in shaping social-responsibility and cultural-change initiatives within professional sports. He led a comprehensive assessment and redesign of the National Hockey League’s flagship Hockey Is For Everyone initiative, engaging more than 120 internal and external stakeholders and developing a new theory of change, implementation roadmaps, and an evaluation strategy. He also directed a four-market study supporting the launch of NHL Street, an initiative designed to strengthen physical fitness, social-emotional wellness, and interest in hockey among elementary- and middle-school-aged participants. The project included an All Girls program model intended to expand access and create more inclusive pathways into the sport.
His work has also demonstrated the power of athletes and sports organizations to influence public policy and community behavior. Benjamin designed and launched the Everytown for Gun Safety Athletic Council, recruiting and managing a 15-member, multisport athlete advisory body that supports advocacy, public education, community programming, media engagement, and legislative outreach. He built relationships with more than 60 professional sports teams, helping connect prominent athletic organizations with public-safety, youth-development, and community violence-interruption initiatives. He has also produced athlete-led public service campaigns focused on voter education, civic participation, and poll-worker recruitment, including collegiate athlete campaigns that generated more than 250,000 impressions during the 2024 election cycle.
Before founding The Ascendant Athlete, Benjamin built an extensive career in diplomacy, governance, and international community development. At Creative Associates International, he directed initiatives focused on strengthening civil society, building community resilience, and preventing violent extremism in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. As Creative’s first Resident Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza, he launched and managed a $6 million rapid-response grant initiative, hired and led a Palestinian team, maintained compliance with U.S. government requirements, and cultivated trust among government, civil-society, community, and media stakeholders.
Under Benjamin’s leadership, that initiative executed more than 100 community projects with 60 partners in refugee camps, villages, and other underserved areas. More than half of the participating organizations had never previously received U.S. government funding, demonstrating his commitment to broadening access and building the capabilities of emerging grassroots leaders. Benjamin delivered more than 100 speeches in Arabic at community events, using language, cultural understanding, and direct engagement to build trust and strengthen the credibility of both the program and its institutional partners. The grant-making approach became a model that was subsequently replicated in other areas facing influence from extremist movements.
Earlier in his career, Benjamin served with the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, managing multimillion-dollar democracy, human-rights, women’s-empowerment, youth-leadership, and civil-society programs across the Middle East and North Africa. He acted as project officer for 17 major awards, represented program priorities to U.S. embassies and international stakeholders, and helped coordinate dozens of local grants across 15 countries. His design of the Leaders for Democracy Fellowship earned a Superior Achievement Award, while his leadership of a department-wide strategic process supporting democratic reform in six countries earned a Meritorious Achievement Award.
Benjamin’s entrepreneurial instincts were evident in his creation of America’s Unofficial Ambassadors, a citizen-diplomacy initiative founded on the belief that the American people represent one of the nation’s most valuable diplomatic assets. He developed partnerships and volunteer programs in countries across Asia and Africa, placing more than 120 young people, educators, and professionals in schools and community organizations. Participants then shared their experiences through articles, media coverage, and approximately 150 community presentations, ultimately introducing more than one million Americans to the value of people-to-people engagement between the United States and the Muslim world. The initiative was later acquired by Cross-Cultural Solutions.
An accomplished writer, educator, and speaker, Benjamin is the author of Live from Jordan: Letters Home from My Journey Through the Middle East, published by AMACOM Books in 2007. His book is a post-9/11 travelogue about the relationship between the United States and the Arab World, and he conducted a media and book tour throughout the United States after its publication. His writing on social impact, international affairs, culture, and travel has appeared in outlets including CNN, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Huffington Post, National Geographic Traveler, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He has taught, presented, and conducted trainings for audiences ranging from middle-school and high-school students to university classes, policymakers, community leaders, professional athletes, and senior executives. His ability to explain complex issues with clarity and humanity has been central to his success in building understanding across cultures and institutions.
Benjamin holds a Master of Arts in International Relations, with distinction, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where he concentrated in Middle East Studies and International Economics. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in History, with high distinction, from the University of Michigan. His international perspective is reinforced by having lived in Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, traveled to more than 60 countries, and developed proficiency in Arabic and Hebrew. These experiences have given him an informed appreciation for the ways history, identity, institutions, and local culture shape organizational and community outcomes.
Service remains a defining element of Benjamin’s personal and professional identity. He served with the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps for a year in Colorado and Texas following his graduation from college. Over that period of service, he set up and managed an in-school tutoring program for 8th graders in a Title I school in Denver, coached Special Olympics basketball for Denver Parks and Recreation, and worked on two trail crews in National Parks in Texas and Colorado.
His governance and community involvement has included roles with Global Ties U.S., Tree of Life, the Fouad Ajami Fellowship at Johns Hopkins SAIS, the Palo Alto Jewish Community Center, and parent-led educational organizations. He has taught English to adult immigrants and university students and has coached girls’ basketball, Little League, soccer, and softball. Benjamin brings the same values to coaching and volunteering that guide his executive leadership: preparation, inclusion, personal growth, teamwork, and a commitment to ensuring that every participant feels valued.
As a board candidate, Benjamin offers a distinctive combination of strategic vision, entrepreneurial initiative, cross-cultural intelligence, governance experience, and operational discipline. He has repeatedly created new roles, launched programs from the ground up, aligned diverse stakeholders, and guided initiatives from problem identification through implementation and evaluation. He is now positioned to bring that experience to organizations with established platforms that are seeking to expand their reach, strengthen their culture, deepen their social impact , and pursue growth with purpose. His ability to understand root causes, see the broader strategic landscape, and follow solutions through to completion makes him a valuable advisor to startups, nonprofits, sports organizations, foundations, and mission-driven companies of virtually any size.
Character:
Benjamin leads with integrity, empathy, courage, and a genuine dedication to creating opportunities for individuals and communities that have historically been overlooked. His decades of public service, volunteerism, coaching, and civic and international engagement demonstrate that his commitment to social progress is not simply professional—it is deeply personal.
Knowledge:
He possesses extensive knowledge of strategic planning, cultural transformation, corporate social responsibility, international development, public policy, governance, program evaluation, stakeholder engagement, and volunteer mobilization. His experience across government, nonprofits, advocacy organizations, professional sports, and community institutions allows him to evaluate challenges from multiple perspectives and offer practical, well-informed guidance.
Strategic:
Benjamin excels at diagnosing complex problems, identifying their underlying causes, and building actionable strategies that connect long-term vision with measurable implementation. He is particularly effective at aligning organizations and diverse stakeholders around shared priorities, creating frameworks that enable ambitious initiatives to grow responsibly and sustainably.
Communication:
An accomplished author, educator, public speaker, and executive counselor who communicates complicated ideas with clarity, authenticity, and cultural sensitivity. His ability to engage international audiences, advise senior leaders, and connect with young people enables him to build trust and motivate action across remarkably diverse settings.
