Stephen Keith Benjamin (born December 1, 1969) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement under President Joe Biden from April 1, 2023 to January 20, 2025. Benjamin previously as Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina from July 1, 2010 to January 4, 2022 becoming the cityâÂÂs first African American mayor. He has also held leadership roles in several national organizations, including serving as President of both the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the African American Mayors Association.
BenjaminâÂÂs parents were from Orangeburg, South Carolina, but relocated to Queens, New York, during the Great Migration in the 1960s. Benjamin later moved to Columbia to attend the University of South Carolina, where he earned a bachelorâÂÂs degree in political science in 1991 and a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1994. While at the university, Benjamin served as President of Student Government, President of the student chapter of the NAACP, and later as President of the Student Bar Association.
Benjamin began his public service career as a member of South Carolina Governor Jim Hodgesâ Cabinet, where he served as chief executive of a $43 million state agency employing 950 people. Benjamin also completed executive coursework through the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, participated in additional leadership programs, and was named both an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow and a Liberty Fellow.
In addition to his public service, Benjamin has remained active in academia. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina Honors College and was the Spring 2022 Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He also helps an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Francis Marion University.
In 1999, Benjamin was appointed by Democratic Governor Jim Hodges to serve as Director of the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services, a position he held until 2003. In 2002, Benjamin ran as the Democratic nominee for Attorney General of South Carolina but was defeated by Republican Henry McMaster, losing by a margin of 11 percent.
During the 2000 presidential election, Benjamin served as a South Carolina state co-chair of GoreNet, a grassroots organization that supported Al GoreâÂÂs campaign. GoreNet focused on online organizing, grassroots mobilization, and hosting small-dollar donor events.
In 2010, Benjamin won a special election to become mayor of Columbia, defeating Kirkman Finlay III in a runoff to succeed Bob Coble. In November 2017, Benjamin was the only candidate to file for the mayoral election and therefore did not appear on the ballot; he was automatically declared re-elected without any votes. On February 4, 2021, Benjamin announced that he would not seek re-election later that year.
His tenure focused on economic development, infrastructure investment, public safety, and inclusive governance. Under his leadership, Columbia experienced:
His administration also led Columbia to become the first U.S. city to ban bump stocks and trigger cranks, implemented the Justice for All initiative focused on 21st-century policing, and prioritized the cityâÂÂs arts and culture through major investments and the appointment of a city Poet Laur.
Columbia received multiple accolades during his administration, including recognition by National Geographic, SmartAsset, and The Washington Post as a top destination for millennials and diverse populations.
Benjamin served as:
He also founded two major national initiatives:
Benjamin received numerous honors during and after his tenure, including the U.S. SBA Phoenix Award (2017) for his leadership during the 2015 floods and the 2018 USGLC Leading Globally Matters Locally Award. Benjamin currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Civint.
In 2023, President Joe Biden appointed Benjamin as Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, where he coordinated communication and outreach between the executive branch and a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including business, labor, civil rights organizations, and the general public.
Benjamin has served in various public-private roles and on multiple boards:
He is also an experienced corporate director, having served on boards of both public and private companies in financial services, biopharma, risk management, and healthcare.
Benjamin is married to DeAndrea G. Benjamin, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. They have two daughters.
He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.
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