Shaped by his service in the U.S. Army, entrepreneur Benjamin Faw seeks to use technology to innovate and is committed to helping disabled veterans transition to post-military life.

Faw is co-founder and CEO of AdVon Commerce, an e-commerce marketing company utilizing machine learning and artificial intelligence. With an HBS classmate, he co-founded BestReviews, a product review and testing site that was incubated in the Harvard Innovation Lab (i-lab). 

As a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he served as a platoon leader in northern Iraq and later as an aide-de-camp in the Army Corps of Engineers, where he helped lead military construction and environmental restoration efforts. Faw then transitioned into the private sector, working at UBS, Tesla, and LinkedIn. 

“Through serving as a combat leader in the military, and leading and starting companies, I have experienced the highs and lows of success and failure. These experiences give me empathy and respect for challenges, leadership during uncertainty, and resilience to accomplish tasks that seem impossible.”

Faw is a board member of the West Point Society of San Francisco and an ambassador for Service to School, a nonprofit that provides free college and graduate school application counseling to military veterans and service members. An active i-lab volunteer, he is also a career advisor and admissions volunteer for HBS. 

“Harvard and Harvard alumni have had a lasting impact on my life. I see this board as a pathway to further Harvard’s impact in the world.”