Ben Sasse served as 13th president of the University of Florida from February 2023 through July 2024. While
leading Florida’s flagship land-grant university, Ben moved swiftly to cultivate fresh leadership, construct a UF-wide strategic planning initiative, and ground UF’s priorities in making the highest and best use of public funds.

He sought to establish goals that are critical to Gators and the state: more applied research, more focus on lifelong
learning for students, and faster, more nimble engagement with exceptional partners.

Passionate about education and teaching, Ben also taught at UF and previously taught at Yale University, the
University of Texas, and Midland University in his Nebraska hometown. Professor Sasse has won teaching awards
and holds a history Ph.D. from Yale, where his dissertation won both the Egleston and Theron Rockwell Field best
dissertation prizes.

A two-time New York Times national best-selling author, Ben’s career has spanned the private and public sectors.
As a turnaround guy working for the Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and Company, and other private equity
firms, Ben has built dozens of teams that built winning strategies.

Ben also served in the U.S. Senate representing Nebraska from 2015 to 2023. His work on the intelligence, finance,
and judiciary committees focused on the future of work, the future of foreign policy, and the First Amendment.
Ben believes in pluralism, free speech, and the power of ideas to build strong and vibrant communities in our
digitally disrupted future