Spotlight On Roberta Mann Benson

Millions of people are challenged by mental health and learning disabilities, but they rarely have a visible advocate, a person who keeps their needs front-and-center in the cultural dialogue. For the last several years, Roberta Mann Benson has more than filled that role—she’s shaped the conversation.

As a life coach, therapist, philanthropist, and one-woman champion of individual potential, she’s brought needed awareness to a topic that seldom shares the spotlight. The culmination of her lifelong work is the National Ted and Roberta Mann Foundation Symposium, now in its third year and co-sponsored by Minneapolis-based PACER Center.

Carrying a passionate message of resilience and strength, she reminds us that support for children and adults who have mental health and learning disabilities must be a priority and that we all have something to contribute to that effort. Her work has kept alive the legacy of her father, the theater owner, movie producer, and philanthropist Ted Mann. With the support of her husband, Donald Benson, and her two children, John and Blythe Brenden, she’s making a positive difference for so many people—and educating us all along the way.