Ben Chestnut

Ben Chestnut cofounded MailChimp with Dan Kurzius in 2001. Back then, he was a designer trying to get a web consultancy shop off the ground in the wake of the dot-com bust, working on MailChimp as a fun side project. Fifteen years later, that side project has become a profitable, self-funded company with 500 employees and 12 million users around the world. Ben is a hands-on leader who often tells his employees to "listen hard, change fast." He has a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Georgia Tech. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and two sons.