Benjamin Wagner
Director of Community Development, Media Transformation Challenge
Group: MTC Challenge
Benjamin Wagner is a consultant and creative, founder of Essential Industries Incorporated, and Director of Community Development for the Media Transformation Challenge.
Benjamin began his career in print (The Suburban & Wayne Times, The Saratogian, Rolling Stone) and radio (WCZN-AM, KOTO-FM). He spent nearly two decades at MTV News, helping launch and grow the organization online, and then transform it from a TV to digital-first organization.
He joined Facebook in an editorial capacity in 2014, and helped launch the Facebook Journalism Project in 2017 as Global Programs Lead. He left in 2021 to found his boutique consulting firm, Essential Industries.
Benjamin is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications, and a 2014 Fellow of the Media Transformation Challenge.
He is the writer, director, and producer of the award-winning PBS documentary, Mister Rogers & Me, and the forthcoming, Friends & Neighbors. He released his tenth studio album, Constellations, in 2022.