Kenneth I. Chenault

Kenneth I. Chenault is Chairman and a Managing Director of General Catalyst. As Managing Director, he invests in fast-growing companies with the potential to become large, enduring institutions, and he advises portfolio companies, particularly those focused on global markets and responsible innovation, as they scale. As Chairman, he guides the firm’s continued growth.

Before joining General Catalyst, Chenault was Chairman and CEO of American Express from 2001 to 2018. He joined the company in 1981 as Director of Strategic Planning and rose through a series of senior roles, including Vice Chairman and President and Chief Operating Officer, before being named CEO. Under his leadership, American Express built Membership Rewards, one of the world’s largest customer loyalty programs, and earned global recognition for customer service. When he retired, Warren Buffett, the company’s largest shareholder, said, “Ken’s been the gold standard for corporate leadership and the benchmark that I measure others against.”

Chenault is widely regarded as an expert on brands and brand management. Fortune named him one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders on its inaugural list in 2014 and again in 2021. That same year, TIME named him and Ken Frazier to the TIME100 Most Influential People list for mobilizing hundreds of corporate leaders to advocate for equitable voting rights and for co-founding SkillsRight (formerly OneTen), a coalition of companies and CEOs committed to creating career opportunities for workers without four-year degrees.

He is the author of the memoir Equal to the Task, in which he reflects on his personal journey, the mentors who shaped him, and his lifelong effort to reach his potential and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.

Chenault serves on the boards of Airbnb, Berkshire Hathaway, Bilt Rewards, Campus, Chief, and Guild Education. His nonprofit board service includes the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Concordance, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Advisory Council of Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. He also serves on the Smithsonian’s Advisory Council for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which he previously chaired. He is a trustee of NYU Langone Health and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and he co-chairs Concordance’s First Chance campaign to end the cycle of reincarceration.

Chenault holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA in history from Bowdoin College, along with several honorary degrees and numerous civic and community awards. He and his wife, Kathryn, live in New York City and have two sons.