John Monagle is Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Benchstrength. Prior to founding Benchstrength, John was a partner at General Catalyst focused on enterprise and consumer investments, including Blank Street, Datto, Airslate, and Multiverse. John began his career as an investor at Insight Partners, and has also worked at Gusto. John graduated from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Ken Chenault Jr. is Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Benchstrength. Prior to Benchstrength, Ken was a partner at General Catalyst, where he made investments across fintech, healthcare, and enterprise. Prior to GC, Ken worked at WayUp, Global Infrastructure Partners, and Goldman Sachs. Ken is also the Co-Founder of the Anti-Racism Fund, which is a non-profit fund-of-fund focused on social justice projects. Ken graduated from Harvard and Harvard Business School.
Kendra Schultz is a principal on the Benchstrength team. She joined in 2023 as an MBA intern, and then transitioned to a full-time role in 2024. Prior to Benchstrength, Kendra worked on Google’s Responsible Innovation team focused on algorithmic bias and fairness, and on the People Operations team. She started her career working with Silicon Valley tech leaders on policy issues that affect the economic vitality in the Bay Area. She invests across all sectors, with a keen interest in AI/ML for good, vertical AI, and user-centric consumer tech. Kendra is a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Business School.
Aleks joins us from General Catalyst, where she focused on strategic network initiatives to connect and gather the tech / VC ecosystem. She also worked alongside John and Ken during her 11 year GC tenure. Prior to GC, she worked in media including Mindshare (GroupM/WPP) and ABC News. Aleks holds a double MA in Sociology and Media Studies from the New School. Her network management, events, and business operations background will supercharge Benchstrength’s future platform endeavors, and she’s looking forward to hit the ground running in 2025.
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