Ben’s early career years were spent wearing many hats at The Contemporary Austin, where he ran membership and digital communications, helped stand up a corner store at PULSE during the Miami fairs, delivered print and environmental design for numerous exhibitions and programs, and worked closely with Duane King and Ian Coyle on a rebrand and digital experience for the institution which was launched at the reopening of their flagship downtown Austin space in October, 2010.

“That experience with Duane and Ian was when it clicked. From then on, I knew I wanted to work in brand.”

In late 2009, Ben co-founded what.it.is, an award-winning full-service brand and digital agency based in Austin, Texas.

Over the course of a decade and change, Ben and his co-founder Adam Rasmus took the agency from working with household Austin names like SXSW and Uchi Restaurant Group to delivering global solutions for companies like IBM, Workday, and Dell Technologies.

Over the years he wore every hat that could be worn. Pitched the work. Developed the strategy. Sold in ideas. Built and led teams. Developed junior talent. Learned the arts of creative leadership and people management. Learned how to build — and break — culture. How to build strong partnerships. How to manage a business. How to influence decision makers, when you don’t have the final call. The list goes on…

It was an incredible run, but after a decade of agency work, Ben needed a new challenge, so he decided to go in-house.

2020 - Ben joined Workrise (then RigUp) - as the company’s first creative director to lead a rebrand that folded 13 acquired entities into a single go-to-market strategy, and with a mandate to build an in-house agency to improve the company’s cost basis, and support its ambitious expansion strategy.

2022 - Ben was promoted to draw on his strategy, storytelling, and campaign experience take over brand holistically, with brand strategy, brand marketing, content, and communications added to his remit for the $1.5B B2B SaaS and services company.