Caleb Gardner

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

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

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

Personal Details

Presentations

Books & Articles (1)

Expertise (11)

Reviews