Benjamin Palmer

Background

About Benjamin Palmer

Ten years ago, a small Eastern Canadian university first caught wind of a scrappy, first year student who had more than a handful of questions about what his tuition was going towards. Shortly after, the questions moved to curriculum, then recruitment, then student success, and so on and so forth. What came next was four years of all-hours committees, six campus-culture changing events, an 18 month fight for queer equity in health insurance, and (nearly) one lawsuit after founding an apparel brand that encroached a little too closely on the campus bookstore. Leaving that behind (temporarily), I knew finding a community of peers for the first years of my adult life was crucial, with my search arriving at Venture for Canada. In the two years since, I’ve moved across the country, met lifelong friends/colleagues, dived headfirst into product marketing, and played a key role in delivering a $12 million student work program ahead of schedule. Then, I returned to academia, studying it from the inside out at the University of Toronto (OISE) while continuing to lead campaigns and product marketing for employers, students, and strategic partners like RBC, the Business Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), and the Government of Canada at Riipen. In September 2021, I took an unconventional path to building my career with young global game-changers at On Deck Catalyst (ODC2). From March 2022 until mid-2023, I built (and launched) the next stage of Canada's best work experience program for more than eligible college/university students, backed by $66 million from the Government of Canada. From mid-2023 to the present, I've been building Riipen's impact management, evaluation, and research functions from the ground up. Let's see what comes next