Ben LaBolt
President
Ben LaBolt is the President of Bully Pulpit International (BPI), the two-time PRovoke Media Global Public Affairs Agency of the Year. Ben serves as a communications, marketing and global public affairs strategist, a thought partner for BPI’s clients and a representative of our point of view in public engagements around the world.
Most recently, he served as White House Communications Director and Senior Advisor to President Biden. In this role, he ran the communications at the White House and across the executive branch of the federal government. LaBolt led communications for the largest organization in the United States, breaking down the walls between communications, digital and media relations and transitioning the administration closer to a content-first ecosystem.
Ben is a nationally recognized communications and public affairs strategist. He brings deep experience advising high growth startups, CEOs, Fortune 200 companies, and major foundations and advocacy organizations. Ben advises top organizations and leaders on how to transform their communications to be more integrated, targeted, and persuasive; reach beyond selling products by better understanding their stakeholders; and strengthen their reputation.
For over two decades, LaBolt has served as a communications and public affairs strategist at the city, state, and national level. He has worked in the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and Obama and Biden White Houses. He was the national press secretary for President Obama’s re-election campaign, press secretary for Sherrod Brown’s first winning campaign for Senate, communications director for Rahm Emanuel’s campaign for Chicago Mayor and White House spokesman for the efforts to confirm Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. He served as an advisor to the Biden-Harris transition team and the Nomination Advisor for Communications for the effort to confirm Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
He has been recognized as the Honorable Mention for PRWeek's Outstanding Agency Professional and was previously named to PRWeek's 40 Under 40 list of leaders who "get results, never settle and represent the future of communications."
When he’s not on a plane, Ben resides in San Francisco. He is a native of LaGrange, IL and a graduate of Middlebury College.