Ben Kaplan

Ben Kaplan is a Harvard-trained economist and the founder of WE San Francisco — a movement to solve some of San Francisco's biggest challenges through the power of collective will and coordinate action.

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He also serves as founder and CEO of TOP [topagency.com], the parent company for a portfolio of mission-driven global marketing agencies including TOP Government (politics and issue advocacy), TOP Data (polling and market research), and TOP Community (multicultural outreach).

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Previously, Kaplan wrote a syndicated weekly education column for The Oregonian, Portland’s daily newspaper, and covered youth politics for the Boston Globe.  In 2021, Kaplan coordinated COVID-19 vaccine response message training for hundreds of small-town mayors and county leaders across the state of Georgia.

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Prior to his entrepreneurial and journalism career, Kaplan served as a case writer at the National Bureau of Economic Research and as a speechwriter for the Nasdaq Stock Market’s Chief Economist. He is the bestselling author of several books (including the viral hit ‘How to Go to College Almost for Free’) and has appeared on more than 5,000 TV and radio programs, including interviews on 'Oprah,' 'TODAY,' 'Good Morning America,' NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC.

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