Benjamin Wielgosz
Ben began his career at the UN World Food Program (WFP) working in Pakistan & South Sudan where the agricultural potential is striking but the food system is fragile. This led to his interest in sustainable agricultural economics. Spending 4 years with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) taught him a tremendous amount about local challenges in Nigeria, East-Africa and Cambodia. Curious to understand why so many good policies and investments were not being adopted or implemented, he leapt at the opportunity to work with the World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture to support multi-stakeholder partnerships in the food and ag sectors. In all of these contexts, he learned that data can be a valuable tool to break political gridlock, but only if it’s the right data to address the problem at hand.
Ben holds a dual bachelor’s degree in mathematics and geography from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Masters Degree in International Economics from American University (AU).