Let me introduce Elle

Elle Benson and a young girl smiling and hugging in a brightly-lit indoor space, possibly a cafe or restaurant.

Elle Benson is a national consultant, executive search leader, and keynote speaker who helps nonprofits and foundations find the right leaders and grow their impact. As founder and CEO of Nonprofit Leadership LLC, she leads more than 20 executive searches a year and is a recognized leader in foundation trustee searches, guiding boards across the country through some of the most consequential decisions they make. Her practice also covers executive transition, board governance, strategic planning, and leadership development.

Benson cares most about work that changes daily life for children and families. She wrote and championed the Student Internet Safety Act, which passed in Tennessee in 2026 and makes school-issued devices safer for public school students. She carried the bill from first draft through legislative testimony, and she continues to speak and write on children, technology, and mental health.

Her TEDx talk, "A Crash Course in Learning to Laugh," launched her career as a keynote speaker. Audiences know her for talks that are funny, grounded in research, and practical enough to use the next morning. She conducts happiness and novelty research in partnership with Belmont University and is the author of two books on mindfulness and happiness, "Cultivate Your Happiness: Mama-to-Be" and "Cultivating Calmness in Children."

Benson serves on the boards of the Association of Infant Mental Health of the USA and Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee. She is a member of the Leadership Tennessee NEXT program and the Leadership Middle Tennessee Class of 2027, and she founded the Middle Tennessee Consultant Network.

She holds an MBA in organizational change and leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in business

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A smiling blonde woman wearing a green turtleneck shirt sitting at a table, talking to someone whose back is facing the camera, in a modern office setting.
A woman in a yellow dress and beige high heels standing in a living room with two grey chairs and colorful patterned floor tiles, smiling and posing with her hand on her hip.