Ben Mangan Named Executive Director of Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership

Ben Mangan, a veteran social enterprise leader and Haas lecturer since 2011, has been named the new executive director of the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership (CNPL).

For the last four years, Mangan has taught management and leadership of nonprofits and social ventures to Haas undergraduates each spring. He plans to teach year-round in his new role, which he started August 18.

Meantime, Nora Silver, the former director of the CNPL, has been named its first faculty director. In her new role, Silver will focus on curriculum development, research, professional teaching faculty, and making the center’s work more visible.

The decision to split the directorship into faculty and executive director positions reflects an expansion of the center’s research work and increasing interest in social entrepreneurship and social impact work.

Mangan co-founded and, for nearly 14 years, served as president and CEO of EARN, a provider of goal-based savings accounts to low-wage workers in the U.S. As part of his move to CNPL, Mangan stepped down as EARN’s CEO.

“We are delighted to welcome Ben as the new executive director of the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership,” says Laura Tyson, faculty director of the Institute for Business & Social Impact, which houses CNPL. “Ben comes to the center as a successful social entrepreneur who has built a nonprofit that provides savings opportunities for the unbanked and low-income communities. He is recognized nationally as an innovator and thought leader who 'thinks beyond himself' to tackle significant social challenges.”

As director of CNPL, Mangan says he plans to implement new approaches for creating social impact.

"Haas and CNPL are incredibly well positioned to suggest a more prescriptive way to achieve social impact,” he says. “The idea is to adapt proven principles of business leadership and practice—like human-centered design and the lean principles—to the social sector much more deeply, much as EARN has done.”

Mangan holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard, with concentrations in finance and strategic management, and an undergraduate degree from Vassar College, with a major in Native American History.

In late 2011 Mangan helped launch the award-winning UC Berkeley chapter of Enactus, a national nonprofit that trains students to use business skills for social good. He also regularly advises Haas undergrads, MBAs, and other students on leadership and innovation.

Recognized for his leadership by Fast Company, the James Irvine Foundation, Tipping Point, and others, Mangan also blogs for the Huffington Post and is an influencer on LinkedIn.

Contact Ben Mangan at [email protected]. (415)-217-3662.

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