Benjamin Bronfman

Benjamin Bronfman
Benjamin Zachary Bronfman (born August 6, 1982) is an American ecopreneur and a Grammy award nominated musician. Bronfman is a founding partner and board member of Global Thermostat, a direct air capture company that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
Early life
Benjamin Zachary Bronfman was born on August 6, 1982 in New York City to African-American actress Sherry Brewer Bronfman and Edgar Bronfman Jr., former chief executive officer of Warner Music Group and heir to one of the most influential Jewish families in the world.
Bronfman lived in London briefly when his father was managing director of Seagram Distilleries Europe, then the family returned to New York in 1984 once his father became president of Seagram's US marketing division.
Bronfman attended Collegiate High School in New York City, graduating in 2000. He enrolled in Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts where he studied politics and law.
Environment and technology
In 2007, Bronfman became interested in direct carbon dioxide removal from the Earth's atmosphere, teamed up with Columbia University economist Graciela Chichilnisky and founded Global Thermostat, where he is a founding partner and a director. Global Thermostat completed the construction of its first pilot plant at The Stanford Research Institute in November 2010. In the year 2018, Bronfman founded DGH, an investment firm for the medical cannabis industry which invested in Bedrocan International. He then contributed as a member of the board of directors from 2018 - 2023 at Bedrocan International., a pharmaceutically focused medical cannabis API supply company in Europe.
Music
A music enthusiast since his childhood, Bronfman met Gunnar Olsen in high school and both performed in various bands. One of those bands became an early incarnation of The Exit in 2000 when Bronfman met Jeff DaRosa while attending Emerson College in Boston. The Exit is a critically acclaimed, New York City-based Indie / Post-Punk / Reggae group released two albums.
Bronfman received a Grammy nomination for Best rap song for his collaborative contribution to Kanye West's single "New Slaves" featured on the album "Yeezus". Additionally, he co-produced the track "Monster" which was included on Kanye West's Grammy Award-winning album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy".
Bronfman is also the founder of Green Owl, which claims to be the world's first sustainably focused record label.
Non-profit work & activism
Since 2010, Bronfman has engaged in cannabis advocacy efforts aimed at promoting legislative changes that would grant patients access to cannabis.
He has served on the boards of the following non-profit organisations:
Founding Board Member Pioneer Works
Board Member Liberty Science Center
Board Member Americans for Safe Access
Board Member 15 Percent Pledge
Personal life
Bronfman met British rapper M.I.A. in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in 2008. They became engaged and M.I.A. gave birth to their son, Ikhyd Edgar Arular Bronfman, on February 13, 2009. In February 2012, it was announced that the two had separated.
Bronfman has two sisters, Hannah and Vanessa.
References
External links
Global Thermostat official website
1982 births
African-American Jews
African-American musicians
American environmentalists
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Benjamin
Collegiate School (New York) alumni
Emerson College alumni
Living people
Musicians from New York City
Canadian people of African-American descent
Lehman family
Carl M. Loeb family