Our Team

Benjamin Carlson is the director of strategic communication for the John Templeton Foundation. In this role, he oversees the Foundation’s digital properties and its branding and messaging efforts. He is responsible for raising awareness of the Foundation’s extensive grantmaking and philanthropic activities, including the Templeton Prize.

Before joining the Foundation, Mr. Carlson served as Director of Public Affairs at a Beijing-based strategic communications agency, where he managed a team that advised Fortune 50 firms including Apple and Amazon on their China operations. Prior to that, he spent a decade as an editor and writer for publications ranging from The New Republic to Esquire and Rolling Stone. He began his career as Executive Editor of The Atlantic Wire in Washington, DC, and graduated with a degree in history from Brown University.