There is a certain steadiness to Ben Sorensen’s leadership, the kind forged in environments where decisions carry consequence and clarity is currency. As a Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner representing District 4, CEO of Sorensen Consulting, Inc., and a Navy Reserve Chaplain with 18 years of service in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Sorensen operates in overlapping arenas of service. The uniform may shift, but the mission does not.
As he reflects on nearly two decades in the Navy Reserve, one of the most formative lessons came from working in a joint environment in the Pentagon after 9/11, when no single branch or agency could address the threat alone. “We had to bring together different services, intelligence agencies, and disciplines… to operate as one mission-focused team,” he says.
The breakthrough, he notes, “was not just better data, but better collaboration: aligning around a shared purpose, building trust across silos, and making decisions in a complex, fast-moving environment.”
That joint-force mindset now shapes how he governs as an elected official in Fort Lauderdale. “The hardest challenges are rarely solved within one department,” Sorensen explains. “Progress comes from convening the right stakeholders, creating clarity around the mission, and fostering an environment where diverse perspectives can integrate rather than compete.” As a City Commissioner, that means coordinated action rather than fragmented effort, long-term planning rather than reactive politics.
Service at home, he believes, must be equally mission-driven. “The most important way veterans can continue serving at home… is by serving other veterans,” he says. Shared experience builds trust quickly, especially around housing stability, employment, and mental health.
That conviction led him to co-found Mission United of the United Way of Broward County, a veterans-serving-veterans model that coordinates housing, job placement, legal support, and wraparound services. “When veterans are at the table designing and delivering solutions, engagement is higher and outcomes are stronger,” he says. The approach has directly informed his work to reduce veteran homelessness in Fort Lauderdale by aligning local government, nonprofits, and veteran-led organizations around a unified strategy.
For Sorensen, resilience is neither abstract nor performative. “Wellness is not a buzzword,” he says. “It is operational readiness for life.” Mental clarity, physical discipline, strong family connection, and faith grounding must work together. “Resilience is built before the pressure hits, not during it.”
His daily practice reflects that discipline: “A daily early-morning centering routine: prayer, a workout that balances cardio and strength training, and reviewing the day’s top priorities before the demands start coming in.”
He is candid about what he wishes civilians understood. “Most veterans and reservists don’t stop serving when they take off the uniform,” he says. Especially for reservists, the navigation of “two worlds” carries invisible operational and emotional weight. Real support, he suggests, looks like partnership: hiring veterans into meaningful roles, supporting veteran-led initiatives, and engaging them as problem-solvers.
“Veterans are not just former service members,” Sorensen says. “They are mission-driven leaders who are wired to serve long after active duty.”
For the next generation serving or looking to serve, his advice is both pragmatic and expansive. “See the uniform as a foundation, not the finish line,” he says. Leadership, teamwork, resilience, and service are transferable. Transition, he adds, begins with a new question: “What is my purpose now?”
As a Navy Reserve Chaplain, Sorensen learned that compassion and accountability are not competing forces but “partners in responsible leadership.” Listening first, lowering the emotional temperature, and making ethically grounded decisions remain central to how he approaches city governance as an elected official. “Leadership is ultimately about caring for people while still making hard decisions for the greater good.”
