Benjamin Chou

Ben oversees Houston Endowment's strategies to support the foundation’s work in civic engagement. Before joining Houston Endowment, Ben directed policy and innovation efforts at the Harris County Elections Department as the Senior Advisor for Policy and Innovation. There, he led the effort to create drive-thru voting, a first-in-Texas service that nearly 130,000 residents used to vote during the November 2020 election. He has significant public policy experience, having worked for U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. He has also managed and worked on a number of political campaigns ranging from school board to President of the United States in Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, and Texas. He co-founded VoteSimple, a nonprofit voter registration organization dedicated to register all eligible people of color and LGBTQ-identified Texans. In 2021, he was featured in the Houston Chronicle as a changemaker helping to shape Houston’s future.

Ben holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science, Asian studies, energy policy studies from Rice University as well as an MBA and J.D. from Northwestern University.