Benjamin T.
5.0
Overcome Adversity, Grow, and Walk Your Path with a Navy SEAL
Studied at The Wharton School (UPenn)
Worked at Cruise
Hiring Manager
Available Monday at 5:00 PM UTC
Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.
Benjamin’s Life Qualifications
Coaches professionally
Experience level: Executive
Benjamin has helped clients get into these companies:
I’ve faced significant challenges throughout my life, starting with the loss of a family member in my childhood, which shaped my resilience early on. Completing Navy SEAL training and leading SEAL teams in combat taught me perseverance, emotional strength, and how to thrive under adversity. After my military service, I pursued an MBA at Wharton and launched a career in tech startups. Along the way, I’ve faced and overcome significant physical and mental health challenges, which deepened my understanding of personal resilience and taught me the value of persistence, self-compassion, and the importance of mental well-being in living a balanced, purposeful life. Through these experiences, I’ve learned powerful lessons about resilience, growth, and balance. Most importantly, they’ve helped me build a meaningful life where I strive to be the best father and partner I can be. My journey has given me unique insights into overcoming hardship, finding purpose, and leading a fulfilling life. I bring these lessons into my coaching practice, helping others unlock their potential, navigate their challenges, and create lives filled with purpose and growth.
Benjamin can help with:
Goal Setting
Communication Skills
Personal Growth
Resilience
Mindfulness
Time Management
Work-Life Balance
Stress Management
Self-Reflection
Benjamin also coaches for Leadership Development, Performance, and Team. View all.
About Benjamin
Hi, I’m Ben Tartell. With over 15 years of experience in operations leadership across the defense and tech sectors, I’ve led teams through challenging environments and complex projects. Most recently, I served as Vice President of Operations at Firestorm, a venture-backed 3D printing drone startup. Before that, I oversaw the deployment of autonomous vehicle fleets at Cruise Automation and directed strategic planning and special projects for the leadership team at GoPuff. Before moving into the private sector, I spent 12 years as a Navy SEAL Officer, overseeing global combat deployments and addressing strategic challenges. I led cross-functional teams during combat operations across the Middle East and Africa, and as the first Executive Officer of Naval Special Warfare Tactical Communications Command ONE, I helped enhance encrypted satellite communications for the SEAL community. I’ve been honored with several awards, including the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device for valor in combat, and I was selected ahead of my peers for the Navy SEAL Executive Officer role. I hold an MBA from Wharton and a B.S. in Social Studies Education from Penn State. On the personal side, my wife Meghan and I have been married for 11 years, and we’re raising our 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son in San Diego. I enjoy Brazilian jiu-jitsu, surfing, yoga, grilling on my Big Green Egg, and hiking with my family. Throughout my journey, I’ve faced and overcome significant mental and physical health challenges, which have deepened my understanding of resilience, perseverance, and emotional strength. These personal experiences have shaped my leadership approach and reinforced the importance of balance, self-compassion, and mental well-being in high-performance environments. If you’re looking for leadership coaching that’s grounded in emotional intelligence and practical experience, I’d love to connect and help you reach your goals.
Why do I coach?
I coach because I’ve seen firsthand the real difference strong leadership and guidance can make, especially when things get tough. From leading Navy SEAL teams on deployments to scaling operations in fast-paced startups, I know what it’s like to face challenges where having the right support can completely change the outcome. Beyond my professional experiences, I’ve also had to overcome significant physical and mental health obstacles. These challenges taught me the importance of resilience, self-compassion, and balance—lessons I bring into my coaching practice. I understand that sometimes the toughest battles are the ones we face internally, and having someone to help navigate those can make all the difference. I’ve been fortunate to have great mentors along the way who helped me grow as a leader and navigate difficult decisions. I believe being a good leader isn’t something you’re born into—it’s something you can learn and practice. If you're willing to put in the work, we can go very far together. My approach is practical and straightforward—I’m here to help people sharpen their leadership skills, tackle challenges head-on, and make a real impact, both professionally and personally.
Work Experience
Vice President, Operations
Firestorm
February 2024 - July 2024
Hiring Manager
- Drove company alignment by implementing OKRs/KPIs across 12 technical teams and 5 products. Developed strategic plans incorporating sales goals and technical dependencies, improving milestone delivery and resource allocation. Collaborated with the CEO / CTO / CSO to align sales and engineering, facilitating timely accomplishment of R&D, manufacturing, and business goals. - Oversaw hiring of 15 teammates which increased headcount 25%, and selection/implementation of new applicant tracking software. Delivered a 100-person strategic hiring plan and org chart options for Series A fundraise and DoD contract execution contingencies. - Managed 5 teammates in executing bespoke strategic projects, including vendor selection for Facility Security Clearance, cybersecurity, and DoD CMMC certification. Led revamp of hiring and onboarding processes, enabled legal contract reviews, and sourced an FAA-approved airstrip for product testing. Facilitated planning for flight team resourcing and product validation testing.
Market Deployment Manager
Cruise
June 2022 - February 2024
Hiring Manager
Cruise is an Autonomous Vehicle (AV) ride hail startup; backed by SoftBank, General Motors, Walmart, and Honda - Delivered 3 inaugural AV fleet launches in new markets; led coordination of 70 workstreams for over 100 stakeholders across real estate, engineering, product, infrastructure, network, mapping, regulatory, commercial, communications, marketing, and operations teams; postured company for rapid new market scaling and commercial growth. - Created and led a 30-person Scout Team which assessed 9 new markets for commercial, technical, and operational feasibility of autonomous ride hail and delivery service fleet launches, provided launch recommendations to Senior Leadership Team resulting in 7 launch approvals and 3 markets launched. Revamped process to reduce travel and Scouting cost by 95% for future markets. - Co-authored New Market Expansion Playbook and 2023 Multi-Market Launch Plan of Record to deploy > 2,000 AVs (400% increase) by EOY 2023 & unlock 150 MM ARR; improved launch strategy & planning by organizing launch phases across all contributing teams to create fully integrated milestone-based planning. - Led Market expansion efforts in 4 launched markets, increased commercial service area by 30% which enabled 4 additional delivery partner locations and ~100 miles of additional ridehail pickup and drop-off opportunity in high-demand geographies. - Organized a Veteran outreach event which educated 50 Special Operations Veterans on startup/tech career opportunities.
Senior Manager - Strategic Planning & Special Projects
Gopuff
June 2021 - April 2022
Gopuff is an on-demand consumer product delivery service startup; backed by SoftBank and Accel - Led execution of 3 company-wide strategic planning cycles; served as prime mover for 50 stakeholders; efforts improved KPI adoption and enabled CEO to deliver data-driven company-wide strategy guidance. - Served as a thought partner to the co-CEOs and CoS to the VP of New Verticals; developed infrastructure, processes, and KPIs to set the foundation for rapid scale; improved cross-functional team alignment.
Special Projects Intern, Office of the CEOs
Gopuff
May 2020 - July 2020
Gopuff is an on-demand consumer product delivery service startup; backed by SoftBank and Accel - Reduced general manager churn rate by 20% by driving adoption of improved manager KPIs. - Accelerated by 2 months a supply chain fix which decreased yearly costs by $750K and increased HQ / field team alignment. - Co-led build-out of corporate venture arm; established investment thesis, organized market evaluation, analyzed 20 companies and 10 VC firms for co-investment, conducted diligence on 4 companies resulting in 2 late-stage investment conversations.
Business Development Intern
Dialpad
May 2019 - June 2019
Dialpad is an AI/cloud business communications startup; backed by Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, SoftBank, and Work-Bench - Identified 10 verticals for strategic partnership and worked with engineering teams to identify requirements for a customized API; briefed C-Suite resulting in approval of an open API engineering initiative, enabling 2 new sell-through partnership opportunities.
Navy SEAL Executive Officer
U.S. Navy
May 2018 - April 2019
Hiring Manager
- "Plankowner" and founding Executive Officer of Tactical Communications Command ONE. - Developed and executed strategy for improved communications capabilities across SEAL enterprise through cultural/operational realignment, upgraded HR processes, and new training; efforts increased qualified candidates by 40% and trained personnel by 200%, decreased communications node setup time by 30%. - Oversaw all integrated voice, data, imagery, and information technology communication infrastructure for 4 SEAL Teams (800 people), enabling command and control during worldwide Special Operations combat missions. - Served as CoS, COO, and Deputy Commander of 200 personnel, managed $100M of classified equipment and a $1.2M budget.
Navy SEAL Troop Commander
U.S. Navy
August 2016 - May 2018
Hiring Manager
- Selected 1 year ahead of peers for Executive Officer career milestone. - Led 150-person Crisis Response Task Force across 5 countries, delivered urgently needed and immediate combat/rescue support to U.S. Military, State Department, and Coalition Allies. - Managed relationship between the United Arab Emirates and U.S. State Department/Special Operations leadership; enabled approval of sensitive missions that increased U.S. national security. - Stretched $100K training budget 60X by integrating training ops with other highly-funded combat units; enhanced synchronization of global operational capabilities and provided the SEAL Team access to new opportunities.
Navy SEAL Training Manager
U.S. Navy
January 2015 - August 2016
Admissions Committee Experience
- Ranked #1 out of 6 managers; mentored 45 instructors, trained 400 students, managed $5M in equipment and $1M budget. - Recognized opportunity to lead cross-functional team through first full update to SEAL diving curriculum in 20 years; spearheaded improvements which boosted student knowledge retention by 10% and reduced diving-related injuries by 25%. - Supervised 3 selection and assessment phases for 300 students resulting in 200 quality candidates identified for advanced SEAL training; developed and taught leadership fundamentals class and provided 1-on-1 coaching for 50 SEAL officer candidates.
Navy SEAL Platoon Commander
U.S. Navy
January 2013 - January 2015
Hiring Manager
- Ranked #1 out of 25 managers; led Quick Reaction Force and coordinated emergency medical contingency and evacuation planning for 150-person Task Force with 20 units conducting combat operations across Middle East and Africa. - Coordinated 20 missions across 10 military units as operations lead for a 50-member task force; degraded Taliban networks in Afghanistan.
Navy SEAL Squad Commander
U.S. Navy
June 2010 - January 2013
Hiring Manager
- Led 100 U.S. and Afghan personnel as Ground Force Commander during 50 combat operations in Afghanistan which degraded Taliban influence. - Orchestrated 20 multi-village ‘shuras’, lived with and instructed 60 Afghan farmers in police tactics, and built lasting security improvements through co-opt of 15 village elders, which created autonomous defenses from Taliban oppression.
Navy SEAL Candidate
U.S. Navy
June 2007 - June 2010
Overcame an 85% attrition rate while leading 50 students through SEAL Qualification Training and Junior Officer Training Course.
Benjamin was also given offers to work at
Airspace
Andreessen Horowitz
Education
The Wharton School (UPenn)
Master of Business Administration - MBA, Entrepreneurship & Operations, Information, and Decisions
2019 - 2021
Admissions Committee Experience
- Activities and societies: “MBA Mentor” for Professor Adam Grant's Organizational Behavior course; member of Technology, Allies for Equality, and Veterans’ Clubs
Pennsylvania State University
Bachelor of Science - BS, Secondary Education, Major in Social Studies, Minors in Military Studies & History
2003 - 2007
Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps, Quarterdeck Honor Society President
Benjamin was also personally admitted to
Chicago Booth
19 Reviews
Overall Rating
5.0
Benjamin has helped Leland clients get into The Wharton School (UPenn)
Benjamin has helped clients get into these companies: