Caleb Gardner is an insatiably curious innovation and change expert with unique experience that includes startups, global nonprofits, Fortune 100 clients, and presidents of the United States. For more than three years, he was the lead digital strategist for OFA, Barack Obama’s political advocacy group. Caleb led one of the largest digital programs in existence, with a millions-strong email list and massive social media following—including the most followed Twitter account in the world, @BarackObama. (The president once said of Caleb, “He’s a better Barack Obama than I am.”) After 2016, Caleb was also one of the founding senior advisors of Swing Left, helping the scrappy startup become the political powerhouse it is today. But his decades of experience in digital leadership, entrepreneurship, and social impact don’t just include work in government and politics: He’s built content strategies and developed operational frameworks for a variety of organizations in the public and private sectors, including at prestigious professional service firms like Bain & Company and Edelman. Now as the cofounder and managing partner of 18 Coffees, an innovation consulting firm, Caleb helps businesses with a mission to change the world get a foothold in the future, using his professional experience to solve impossible problems and bring new ideas to life, for global clients such as United Way Worldwide, Bose Corporation, Pandora, Fordham Law School, and others. Caleb also written columns for Forbes and other online publications, and is frequently asked for quotes for publications like NBC News, Crain’s Chicago Business, WIRED magazine, Strategy magazine, BBC Radio 4, and Entrepreneur magazine, among others.
