Ben Chestnut
American entrepreneur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ben Chestnut (born 1973/1974) is an American Internet entrepreneur. He is the co-founder (with Dan Kurzius) and former CEO of Mailchimp, an email marketing company.[2][3][4] As of November 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$4.1 billion.[1]
.jpg)
Ben Chestnut | |
|---|---|
Chestnut in 2019 | |
| Born | 1973 or 1974 (age 51–52)[1] Augusta, Georgia, US |
| Education | University of Georgia Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Internet entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founder and former CEO of Mailchimp |
| Children | 2 |
Early life
Ben Chestnut was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia[5] and attended high school in Hephzibah, Georgia. He studied physics at the University of Georgia and industrial design at the Georgia Institute of Technology.[6]
Career
He is the co-founder and former CEO of Rocket Science Group,[7] commonly known as Mailchimp[6][8] a CRM with 11 million users.[9] In 2016, he was recognized as Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year.[10] According to Atlanta Business Chronicle, in August 2017, Chestnut was awarded "Most Admired CEO".[11] In October 2018, Forbes noted that Chestnut was a billionaire.[12] In August 2022, Chestnut abruptly stepped down as CEO one month after sending a nearly 1,400-word email to a small group of employees identifying what he considered an alarming trend in his workforce: new hires introducing themselves in virtual meetings with their preferred pronouns.[13]