Ben Kohlmann, on launching the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum, and becoming the CEO of Farcast Inc

Ben’s mission is to promote widespread and sustainable human flourishing by empowering talented individuals to drive innovation within large organizations. While on active duty with the U.S. Navy as an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot, Ben founded the Chief of Naval Operations Rapid Innovation Cell. This effort formally linked technologically savvy junior officers to four star admirals for the first time. The CRIC sponsored cutting edge technology programs, such as putting 3D printers on ships and fundamentally reshaping maritime cyber defense efforts. Ben’s leadership was chronicled in Adam Grant’s NYT best-selling book “Originals.” He later helped stand up the Defense Innovation Unit (Experimental) in Silicon Valley.  Ben also co-founded and led the non-profit Defense Entrepreneurs Forum. Now in it’s 8th year, DEF has a membership of over 2,500 military innovators across three continents. DEF hosts national and regional design thinking events for defense innovators, shaping many entrepreneurial and personnel reform efforts within DoD.  In his current professional capacity, Ben is an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co, focused on transformational change within the energy and public sectors. He has driven front-line operator reforms within railroads and pipeline companies in addition to helping public sector clients rethink legacy acquisition strategies. Most recently, his work has focused on COVID-crisis response efforts within a large US city and an elite East Coast University.  Ben received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Tillman Scholar and helped found Hacking 4 Defense. He was a 2018 Presidential Leadership Scholar and 2020 Leadership Dallas fellow. In his free time, he hosts “A Random Walk with Ben Kohlmann,” a weekly podcast featuring interviews with a wide range of experts, including astronauts, architects, and policy reformers.