Ken Chenault on Equal to the Task and the Future of American Business

Kenneth I. Chenault is the Chairman and a Managing Director of General Catalyst. As a managing director of the company, he focuses on investing in fast-growing companies that have the potential to become large, fundamental institutions. He also provides invaluable guidance to portfolio companies, particularly to those with an eye towards global markets and responsible innovation, as they scale their teams and products. As chairman, Ken leverages his renowned leadership abilities and experience to continue to evolve General Catalyst into a formidable and enduring company. Ken is the author of Equal to the Task, his memoir, in which reflects on his personal journey, the mentors who shaped him, and his lifelong quest to realize his own potential and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.

Prior to joining General Catalyst, Ken was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Express Company, a position he held from 2001 to 2018. He joined American Express in 1981 as Director of Strategic Planning and served subsequently in a number of increasingly senior positions, including Vice Chairman and President and Chief Operating Officer, until his appointment as CEO. Under his leadership, American Express built one of the world’s largest customer loyalty programs – Membership Rewards – and earned global recognition as a leader in customer service. Upon Ken’s retirement from American Express, Warren Buffett, the company’s largest shareholder stated, “Ken's been the gold standard for corporate leadership and the benchmark that I measure others against.”

Ken is recognized as one of the business world’s experts on brands and brand management. He has been honored by multiple publications including Fortune Magazine, which named him as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in its inaugural list in 2014 and, most recently, in 2021. TIME celebrated Ken together with Ken Frazier in the TIME100 Most Influential People of 2021 list for their corporate and social activism – specifically, for mobilizing hundreds of corporate leaders to advocate for equitable voting rights in the U.S., and for co-founding SkillsRight (formerly OneTen), a nonprofit organization of leading companies and CEOs committed to unlocking career opportunities for talent without four-year degrees.

Ken serves on the boards of Airbnb, Berkshire Hathaway, Bilt Rewards, Campus, Chief, and Guild Education. Ken is on the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations, including the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Concordance, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Human Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute Advisory Council at Stanford University, and the Smithsonian Institution’s Advisory Council for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, of which he formerly served as chair. He also serves on the board of trustees for NYU Langone Health, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and as co-chair of Concordance’s First Chance campaign to end the cycle of reincarceration. Ken holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA in history from Bowdoin College. He has also received honorary degrees from several universities and awards from a wide variety of civic, social service, and community organizations.

He and his wife, Kathryn, live in New York City, and they have two sons.

Anchor, Bloomberg Wall Street Week; Former President, ABC News

David Westin is the anchor of Bloomberg Wall Street Week. From 1997 through 2010, Westin was president of ABC News—overseeing the network’s global coverage including the 2008 economic crisis, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the 9/11 attacks.