Innovators of Color
2024

Esther Benjamin

CEO & Executive Director

World Education Services

Esther T. Benjamin is a tri-sector global leader, currently serving as CEO and Executive Director of World Education Services. She is a Visiting Fellow with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. She was previously CEO for Africa Operations with Laureate Education. In President Obama’s Administration, Esther led Global Operations for the U.S. Peace Corps; she was a senior executive with the International Youth Foundation. In 1999, President Clinton appointed Esther a White House Fellow. She began her career with the United Nations, Grant Thornton, and the Brookings Institution’s World Bank History Project. Esther serves on the Board of Directors of B Lab Global, Echoing Green, and Candid, among others. New York Times best-selling author and Maryland Governor Wes Moore profiled Esther as “The Globalist” in his book The Work: Searching for a Life that Matters.