Robert Benz has been a close friend of the Frederick Douglass family for more than two decades. He comes to the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation from the private sector where he owned and operated a travel consulting firm.

Robert was involved with the hospitality industry since 1990. With a focus on group meetings, conventions and niche consumer markets, he was responsible for the design and execution of sales and marketing programs for many of the country’s most important hotel and casino companies. During that time his company was also contracted by the largest cruise lines in the world to develop the group incentive market. Robert’s company ultimately led the design, marketing and implementation of some of the biggest music cruise charters ever done, starring such acts as: The Dave Matthews Band, Kenny Chesney, and Tim McGraw.

In his role as the foundation’s Executive Vice President, Robert’s focus is on policy and program development. He leads and continues to expand FDFF’s abolition through education efforts with the “Frederick Douglass Dialogues”, “The Abolition Day Project” and our service-learning program, “History, Human Rights and the Power of One.”

“We have an excellent formula for making an impact on the issue of human trafficking starting with the incredible legacies of Douglass and Washington. The unique connection of our founders to these influential Americans provides a powerful platform from which to launch our ideas concerning topics such as: slavery, education and the use of digital media for affecting change. We present history in the classroom not as a compilation of detached facts but as essential knowledge necessary for young people looking to play a vital role in the global community. History must be used to contextualize the meaning of human trafficking otherwise this contemporary crime cannot be properly understood. Even though the term ‘Slavery’ is still found in dictionaries, in our minds, it exists as an island that most of us have visited only once upon learning that it had been abolished. We all need to refresh our understanding of slavery as one person’s unwelcome control over another because it’s all around us and its victims continue to suffer because of our ignorance.”
Robert represents FDFF on the Board of Directors of PSEC Nevada (Protection of Sexually Exploited Children). PSEC’s mission is to provide a safe place in Las Vegas for domestic minor sex trafficking victims that have been exploited through prostitution. He also sits on the board of the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism for Valley High School in Las Vegas.

Robert was born in Minneapolis and grew-up in Los Angeles. He has family in California, Minnesota and Texas. Robert is currently living in Las Vegas.

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