Benjamin Chou

About Benjamin Chou

Ben is a Democracy, Rights, and Governance Program Officer at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In this role, he helps lead the organization’s grantmaking in support of a thriving, pro-equity democracy in the United States.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ben was a Program Officer for Civic Engagement at the Houston Endowment, where he helped oversee a $20 million portfolio to increase nonpartisan voter turnout, improve elections administration, and support pro-voting policies.

Previously, Ben directed policy and innovation efforts at the Harris County Elections Department as the Senior Advisor for Policy and Innovation. There, he helped lead the effort to create drive thru voting, a first-in-Texas service that nearly 130,000 residents used to vote during the November 2020 election. He has significant public policy experience, having worked for U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. He has also managed and worked on a number of political campaigns ranging from school board to President of the United States in Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, and Texas. 

Ben was born in Houston to Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants who arrived in the United States in 1980. His grandfathers served in the Chinese Nationalist military and fled their ancestral homes to Taiwan after the Communist Revolution. Ben’s parents were born in Taiwan, and both subsequently pursued graduate studies in the United States, where they met.