Ben Smith is the editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed. He joined BuzzFeed in January 2012. He is responsible for overseeing and expanding editorial coverage. Prior to BuzzFeed, Smith was senior political writer for Politico from 2007 to 2011, where he wrote a daily blog that Time Magazine named as one of the Five Essential Blogs in 2010.

Smith covered the Democratic presidential primary, with a focus on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Before Politico, he wrote a column and a blog for New York’s Daily News.

Smith has written for many leading publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, the New York Post, The New Republic, Legal Affairs, Reason and In These Times.

Smith graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale University with a degree in Linguistics. He was born and raised in Manhattan, and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.