Ben Santarris
Communications Consultant

Ben Santarris worked for 25 years as a reporter and editor for a variety of news organizations – last as business editor of The Oregonian in Portland. As public affairs manager and then head of corporate communications for Oregon-based SolarWorld Americas Inc. for a decade, he played a leadership role in the solar industry’s trade cases.    

Ben has taken an interest in mental health issues in his personal and professional lives for decades. Twice a week, he works overnight shifts as a direct support professional helping people with intellectual disabilities at a group home of Edwards Center Inc., a pioneering nonprofit based in Oregon.  He believes an employer’s appropriate management of mental health issues in its workplace can do much to determine its organizational and employer brand, culture, productivity, risk management and basic humanity. He’s proud to support MA Company in making a difference on this critical but too-often-unaddressed front.

A native of Oregon, Ben holds a master’s degree in print journalism from Boston University and an MBA from Western Washington University in Bellingham. At Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., he majored in French literature.   Ben is a native of Oregon, where he is a Portland resident.