Adam Braun

Adam Braun is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker and entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Climate Club, the leading sustainability success platform used by companies today. He is also the Founder, Chairman and original CEO of Pencils of Promise, the award-winning organization that has built nearly 600 schools around the world. 

He has been featured as a speaker at The White House, the United Nations and the dozens of industry associations, universities and Fortune 500 companies. He has also been named to Business Insider’s 40 Under 40, Wired Magazine‘s 50 People Who Are Changing the World, and was selected as one of the World Economic Forum’s original ten Global Shapers.

Braun began working summers at hedge funds when he was sixteen years old, sprinting down the path to a successful Wall Street career. But while traveling abroad as a college student he met a young boy begging on the streets of India, who when asked what he wanted most in the world, simply answered, “a pencil.”

This small request became the inspiration for Pencils of Promise, the organization Braun would leave Bain & Company several years later to start with just $25. Using his unique “for-purpose” approach, the organization has now raised more than $75M to address global education. Through his work across the full spectrum of education and sustainability, technology and innovation, startups and large enterprise, Braun has combined his passion for impact and innovation to build several industry defining companies.

Braun graduated from Brown University and has been a frequent speaker delivering an inspiring message to audiences across the world. He avidly engages with his social media following of over 900,000 people and has received the nation’s most prestigious award for public service, the Jefferson Award.

His book The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change debuted at #2 on the New York Times Bestseller list and went on to become a #1 national bestseller.