Ben was raised in New Jersey (he claims there are parts of Jersey that are absolutely beautiful, but he admits that he didn't live in those parts) and received his higher education at Skidmore College in Saratoga, New York. Ben's first short-lived job was teaching at a boarding school in New Hampshire
where, he confesses, he was a dreadful teacher, but he and the kids had a grand time playing soccer in the yard and listening to music in the dorm.
During his one-year teaching career, Ben took a group of students on a spring break skiing and outdoor adventure to Colorado and knew immediately that he was going to pursue a career combining travel and nature. Not given to working for others (his experience with the headmaster of the prep school was a disaster, for him and for the headmaster both), in 1984 Ben decided to pursue his dreams independently. He managed to save $600 driving a garbage truck at a New
Jersey amusement park and invested that undersized savings to produce a small brochure advertising skiing and adventure trips, doing the typing (on an antiquated standard typewriter) and photocopying himself. It wasn't long before the International Fund for Animal Welfare put out a feeler to find a young and ambitious adventure travel company to help them develop a seal-watching tourism industry to replace the baby harp seal hunt in eastern Canada. Ben jumped on board, and the fledgling company found its focus on travel as a means for conserving nature and wildlife
While Ben was living on the floor of his brother's apartment in New York City and stealing his brother's change for subway fare to get to work, there was no
company more ambitious than Natural Habitat Adventures, which, at the time, consisted of Ben alone. In the 35 years since, Ben has grown Nat Hab to become a global leader in nature travel, offering life-enhancing adventures to the world's most wondrous wild places. He himself has journeyed to dozens of countries in search of spectacular nature experiences…and a good time, whenever possible. Aside from heading a meaningful company that provides “The World’s Greatest Nature Expeditions," Ben's professional ambition is to utilize adventure travel to build support for the fight against climate change. When he's not working, which is rarely (ask the staff who regularly get midnight emails), Ben plays and coaches soccer, rides his mountain bike, skis, drinks beer, smokes Cuban cigars, and enjoys time with his family.
