Bain & Company

Ben is a strategy consultant at Bain & Company where he is currently on sabbatical pursuing his MBA at the Yale School of Management. He was a debater at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville and was recruited to compete at the University of Southern California, where he later served as a coach. In his free time, he is a food fanatic with his interests spanning from cooking to trying new restaurants to researching future food technologies. 

Why Debate?

Debate has been a foundational element of my personal life and career. There is obvious applicability from the debate world to areas like law, but even in my career I've seen so many times how the foundational skills debate builds - engaging different perspectives, responding substantively to questions, doing deep research on topics you aren't familiar with - are so instrumental in so many walks of life. Beyond that, I think the growth you see in yourself personally throughout this challenging activity was crucial to seeing potential in myself that I had not before, and I want other students to experience that same growth. Beyond the skills, I've made lifelong relationships from my time in the activity that have brought such meaning to my time in the activity, but these relationships were only possible because of the rich community of debate, which I hope NUDL can continue to create for the Nashville debate community.