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  1. Home
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  3. Caleb Gardner
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Caleb Gardner

Founder & Managing Partner
18 Coffees
Country or state 
United States
Available to 
Global
City 
Chicago
Fee 
Languages 
English
Volunteer
No

Personal Details

Bio

-- Former digital director for BarackObama.com

-- Current founding partner of 18 Coffees, a strategy & innovation firm

I'm an insatiably curious digital thought leader and futurist with unique professional experience, from startups to nonprofits, from Fortune 100 clients to heads of state.

I have more than a decade of experience in digital leadership and social impact, building content strategies and developing operational frameworks for a variety of organizations in the public and private sectors, turning online communities into social movements.

For more than three years, I was the lead strategist and editorial voice for BarackObama.com (Organizing for Action), one of the largest digital programs in existence, with a millions-strong email list and massive social media following -- including the fourth largest Twitter account in the world.

Now as co-founder and managing partner of 18 Coffees, I'm growing a community-driven innovation firm that helps mission-driven companies solve problems, surface new ideas, and get a foothold in the future.

As a speaker, I ask my audiences to reach higher, think smarter, and help solve the big problems. Let's do great things together.

Current position (1)

Founder & Managing Partner

18 Coffees

Degrees (2)
BA, History
Baylor University
2001 to 2005
MBA
North Park University
2007 to 2009

Presentations

Presentations (2)
How to Operate In A World on Edge

No longer can brands and businesses operate outside of politics,
or “not get political.” In the current environment, a lack of
grounding in political nuance can either be an opportunity
(Nike, Patagonia) or a threat (Pepsi, Papa John’s, Target). In this
talk, Caleb outlines:
• data points about how consumers are making values-driven
decisions every day
• when and how to communicate confidently about sociopolitical
topics
• how to prevent your own PR crisis

From 100 to 100 million: Building Trust at Any Scale

Caleb leans on his experience running one of the largest digital
programs in existence—engaging with tens of millions of people
every day via the @BarackObama Twitter account and email list—
as well as his experience working with startups and early stage
ventures to show how the principles of building trusted
relationships at any scale are the same. Major takeaways include:
• why trust matters and how to earn it
• sociological principles of mission-driven engagement and
community development
• the digital data points that indicate trust-building (and those
that don’t)

Workshops (1)
Grow-to-Market Strategy
4 hours
(View workshop agenda)

How do you create an iterative process for sales, marketing, and product innovation, constantly re-evaluate value propositions, and growing your team's capacity accordingly?

Past talks (3)
Grow-to-Market Strategy
University of Chicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship
Chicago, IL
August 9, 2018
Scaling Social Entrepreneurship
Social Innovation Summit
San Francisco, CA
June 6, 2018
What Barack Obama's Trolls Taught Me About Civility
INBOUND Marketing Summit
Boston, MA
November 9, 2016
  • All (3)
  • Videos
  • Photos (1)
  • One sheet (1)
  • Press information (1)
This speaker hasn't uploaded any videos yet.
This speaker hasn't uploaded any slides yet.
Barack Obama's Former Social Media Manager Breaks Down the Future of Digital Strategies

Books & Articles (1)

All Entrepreneurship is Social Entrepreneurship

Expertise (11)

Technology
PR & Communications
Media & Marketing
Social & Political
Leadership
Management Consulting corporate social media Business change Business Innovation Business Model Innovation Communications

Reviews

Testimonials (1)
  • Caleb stood out at CMX Summit as the speaker that could push the audience beyond their comfort zone, getting them to think big about purpose and movement building online.
    David Spinks
    Verified
Recommendations
Why choose me? 

Unique experience: I've consulted for Fortune 100 companies, startups, and U.S. presidents.

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