Conversations with Leaders: Richard LaBonté (Benson Hill)

Richard LaBont├®

Vice President of Strategic Engagement and Communications

Benson Hill

In his role as Vice President of Strategic Engagement and Communications, Richard is responsible for Benson Hill’s corporate brand and architecture, communicating Benson Hill’s vision, values, purpose and strategy through corporate communications and leading the engagement with a diverse set of stakeholders to drive corporate business strategy and thought leadership.

Richard joins Benson Hill with 20 years’ experience in value creation roles traversing product development and management, brand strategy and development, marketing strategy and communications, and business and partnership development.

Prior to joining Benson Hill, Richard was the Chief Product Officer at Lantos Technologies, a Boston based medical devices startup, where he was responsible for leading go-to-market efforts for MIT developed technology and driving integration and alignment across the product and brand strategy, corporate communications and product marketing and partnership development landscapes.

Richard also has developed, launched and marketed products in the consumer electronics industry as an executive with HARMAN International, leading the global Wearables business unit along with HARMAN’s high-value partnership with Under Armour, which yielded a CES Editors’ Choice award for product innovation.

Richard has a B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University, with a focus on Marketing Strategy.

Richard continues his commitment to his alma matters as a mentor and adviser to the iVenture startup accelerator at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.  He also serves on the Alumni Board at the Olin School of Business at Washington University and co-chairs Olin’s Eliot Society scholarship fundraising committee.