Ari Rubenstein

Pronouns: he/him/his

You could say an acute case of cognitive dissonance was responsible for Ari’s calling to challenge corporate power.

“When I first learned about climate change,” he explains, “I was overwhelmed by how the solutions I was seeing around me seemed wholly incommensurate to the crisis at hand. My gut told me that driving a hybrid, bringing a reusable shopping bag to the grocery store, or changing lightbulbs was not going to get us out of the crisis we are facing.”

Digging deeper, he came to understand that such “solutions” are marketed to us by corporations with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. And he realized that to truly make an impact on the issues he cared most about, he needed to get to the root of the issue: corporate power.

That discovery eventually led him to Corporate Accountability, where he joined as campaigns administrator in 2013. Today he manages all of the organization’s campaigns, in collaboration with the leadership of each team. He’s committed to ensuring the campaigns have a huge impact in advancing justice and making a tangible impact on people’s lives.

And, daily, he sees how, in these trying and uncertain times, more and more people are outraged by the threat that corporations pose to our lives, our climate, and democratic processes—and are determined to do something about it.

“Something that feels impossible can become reality if enough people spur each other on to believe in it,” he says. “We all can participate in changing the world by connecting with each other and working toward a greater goal together. In this role, I feel inspired to witness all the ways that people are standing up and saying yes, count me in; I want to be part of creating transformational change.”

Prior to joining staff, Ari worked as a Green Corps organizer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Studies from Brown University.

When not campaigning, Ari can be found baking bread, gracefully navigating aerial silks, or crossing the Atlantic on a replica of the Titanic (about which he knows pretty much everything there is to know).

Ari speaks Spanish and English.