Benjamin Cokelet

organization overview

PODER is a regional not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization that improves corporate transparency and accountability in Latin America from a human rights perspective and strengthens civil society stakeholders of corporations by holding them accountable.

Personal Bio

Benjamin Cokelet is the founder and executive director of Empower, LLC (https://empowerllc.net/en), a Mexico City-based corporate accountability and human rights organization that conducts strategic corporate research and training for civil society organizations worldwide. Previously, he was the founding executive director (2010-19) of PODER (https://poderlatam.org/en), a Latin American NGO recognized worldwide as a pioneer in the fields of corporate accountability and business and human rights.

Since 1993, Ben has worked with non-profit organizations and trade unions primarily in the U.S., Mexico, and Latin America, taught public administration at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, and served on the boards of civil society, educational, philanthropic, social entrepreneurial, and media organizations.

He holds a BA in political science and African and African-American studies from Washington University in St. Louis and an MA in international business and politics from NYU. As a graduate student, Benjamin was awarded the Catherine B. Reynolds Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship and wrote his thesis on business politics and state capture in Mexico. He is the author of numerous publications, including the book “Runaway Train: The Perilous and Pernicious Path of Private Capital Worldwide.” Ben is also an Ashoka fellow.