
Ben Kleban, Independent Consultant
Ben is a seasoned chief executive and former elected official with over 15 years of top-level leadership experience in the education, non-profit, government and business sectors.
Ben served as an elected member of the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) from 2016-2020. Prior to his service on OPSB, Ben was the Founder & CEO of New Orleans College Prep (NOCP), a charter school network he led for ten years, growing from a single grade of students to a network of four campuses serving children from birth - 12th grade. Under Ben’s leadership, NOCP achieved significant academic gains for its students, including 100% college acceptance rates and two successful school turnarounds. While leading NOCP, Ben served on the Louisiana MFP task force, a statewide advisory council for strengthening the public school funding formula in Louisiana. He also co-founded College Beyond, a non-profit that provides coaching and financial supports to improve the college graduation rate of low-income and first-generation college students from across the Greater New Orleans area.
Ben has prior experience as a high school math teacher in Philadelphia and began his career in corporate finance at The Boeing Company. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Business Administration from Pepperdine University. Ben now lives in Walla Walla, WA with his wife and three children.