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Benjamin E. Robinson III '86

Former three-sport athlete Ben Robinson has earned international respect in the world of banking

Ben Robinson’s time at Bates included letters in three varsity sports and international experience in debate. He served as vice president of student government. He was a Benjamin Mays scholar and was elected to the College Key. After graduating from Bates with a degree in rhetoric in 1986, Ben began his ascent in the world of banking. He rose in the ranks of the Bank of America and Mellon Bank in Hartford and Pittsburgh. In 1993 he was appointed to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Consumer Credit & Insurance. As a congressional advisor to the committee, he advised former Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II on banking issues affecting the United States. He served as of director of public affairs for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston; as vice president of public affairs for MasterCard and chief policy advisor for TDS Corporation, a MasterCard subsidiary; president and chief executive officer for MasterCard Cardholder Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of MasterCard International and chief privacy officer for MasterCard International. He joined the Bank of America in 2002 as senior vice president and strategy management executive. In this role he leads strategy to identify threats and opportunities for global supply chain and develops proactive strategies and countermeasures to deliver revenue and business savings to the enterprise cross functionally and across lines of business. Ben earned a master’s degree in public policy from Trinity College and a Ph.D. in banking and finance policy from Union University. He has was named The Jack Rudin & John G. Driscoll Distinguished Visiting Professor the Hagan School of Business at Iona College, and teaches at the Belk College of Business, UNC-Charlotte. He was recognized in President George Bush’s “Thousand Points of Light” program as a community leader and was one of six young Americans to receive the National Red Cross Star Player Award. The Wall Street Journal has featured him and Ebony Magazine named him one of America's Future Leaders. Ben serves on numerous boards and advisory councils, including Pfeiffer University, Roger Williams University, and the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia where he studied before he came to Bates. Ben Robinson’s career embodies devotion to professional and academic values, a commitment to Bates, and to his family. Ben is also an award-winning coach — he was named Coach of the Year by the Norwalk (Conn.) Junior Soccer Association in 2002. He is married to Cecilia Atkinson of Lorain, Ohio, and resides in Charlotte, N.C. They have two children.

Ben Robinson '86 represented the alumni class of inductees to the Bates Scholar-Athlete Society at the podium.