Ben Henschel

Ben (he/him) is the Director of Inclusion and Development at Ovative. He is responsible for developing and implementing learning strategies across Ovative’s teams and the employee experience, aiming at unlocking the potential of our team. Ben leads Ovative’s Elevate program and is a driver of bringing the Elevate Leadership Platform (ELP) to life. His areas of focus are effective communication, expectations, and feedback. Ben also co-leads Ovative’s LGBTQIA+ resource group, Ovative Open, where he structures community, support, and development for queer team members.

Before joining Ovative in 2020, Ben was a celebrated school teacher for just under a decade, impacting students and classrooms across Minnesota. Ben continues to use his education experience to facilitate impactful learning experiences and lead teams towards better ways of communicating and working. He thrives when leading large groups through learning experiences, as well as in 1-on-1 coaching of team members. Ben is a certified Racially Conscious Collaborator, and is a certified practitioner of Insights Discovery.

When not at work, Ben can be found running, biking, kayaking, or cross-country skiing (depending on the season!), watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, or spending time at home with his husband and cats.