Ben started life in small town Texas, spending most free time building forts in the desert before his family moved to Costa Mesa, CA in 1987. Ben instantly fell in love with the ocean and all the best natural features of Southern California, always at the beach, building BMX jumps in the bluffs, or camping (esp. Joshua Tree). Ben's connection with nature and outdoor recreation was rooted early.
Despite remarkable career shifts from athletics (playing and coaching) to business (MBA and consulting) to academia (PhD and professor), Ben’s connection with nature drove him to create his own recreation and wellness retreat. Vetted through traveling to 72 countries and residing on 3 continents, overlanding 2,000+ mile treks across 5 continents, Ben experienced, lived, played, fed, and meditated with amazing people in the most amazing landscapes on earth. A global search ended with finding the perfect outdoor recreation and wellness paradise a mere 20 miles as the bird flies from his childhood home.
Ben’s experiences and connections taught him to value lifelong learning, exploration, fitness of the mind, body, and spirit, outdoor recreation, and triple bottom line (people-planet-profit) sustainability. These values bleed into Splitrock Farm and Retreat through Ben’s vision and hard work, where you’ll mostly find him building forts in paradise.