Ben & Jerry’s Church Street store in Burlington in April 2023. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen says he sees a departure from the company’s core values in several recently announced governance changes at Vermont’s beloved ice cream maker.
Ben & Jerry’s said on Wednesday that the company had selected three new directors for the independent board that steers the brand’s social mission, and signaled its intention to entirely replace the outfit’s philanthropic foundation. British giant Unilever purchased the ice cream company from founders Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 2000, before spinning the brand off last year under The Magnum Ice Cream Company.
The announcement came days after a judge tossed part of a yearslong lawsuit filed by former board members against the South Burlington-based company’s corporate parent over governance issues and alleged political censorship. Several claims relating to corporate control and various financial obligations between the parties were allowed to continue.
Cohen said in an interview Friday that these changes to the independent board and foundation are part of an attempt by corporate leadership to undermine the independence of Ben & Jerry’s social mission. The new directors, he argued, were added improperly.
“This is about the heart and soul of Ben & Jerry’s,” he said, referring in part to allegations that corporate ownership censored attempts to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, among other issues. For Cohen, it’s a matter of whether the brand “will continue to take stands that not everybody agrees with.”
Alex Gerrity, a spokesperson for Ben & Jerry’s, disagreed, saying leadership remains committed to maintaining good governance, and the company’s progressive values.
“These appointments are about ensuring Ben & Jerry’s has the right governance as per the merger agreement,” she said of the new board members in an emailed statement. “These highly respected individuals will offer important perspectives, experience and constructive challenge to safeguard our social mission and brand integrity alongside the CEO.”
Last month, leadership at the nonprofit Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, which has for decades received funding from the company’s corporate structure for its philanthropic work, said the organization’s staff had been forced to vacate its South Burlington office. The shuttering came after the independent foundation stopped receiving its funding from Ben & Jerry’s last year, with its reserves expected to be essentially depleted by the end of the year.
Gerrity said the company leadership and foundation’s board could not agree on a set of governance reforms to reach a path for continued funding. Spokespeople for Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s have repeatedly cited an unreleased 2025 audit backed by Unilever, which they say uncovered financial mismanagement and conflicts of interest at the foundation, among other issues. Cohen denied those claims strongly.
The statement from Ben & Jerry’s on Wednesday signaled that the company is now seeking to replace the old foundation structure entirely. The philanthropic organization’s “future model,” read the release, will operate under “governance designed to support independence, transparency, and long-term resilience.”
Liz Bankowski, president of the foundation’s board of trustees, said that in order to be truly independent, the new model would have to be free of corporate involvement in decision-making. No staff or board members from the current organization have yet been offered a place in the new philanthropic arm, she added.
“Why would they want to create a new foundation when the one they have is highly respected and revered by their employees, by thousands of grantees?” she said in an interview Friday. For Bankowski, the organization she has overseen for decades is “one of the most significant legacies of the original Ben & Jerry’s.”
Gerrity declined to comment on the new organization’s staffing, but said in a statement that the philanthropic arm (which disperses roughly $600,000 in annual grants across the state) will remain committed to supporting Vermont communities. She also emphasized the social advocacy the company undertakes beyond the foundation, pointing to separate campaigns around issues like voting rights and U.S. humanitarian entry programs.
Cohen and Bankowski said recent state filings show the future model for the foundation may already exist.
In January, a company entitled “Ben & Jerry’s Linked Prosperity Foundation” was registered with the Vermont Secretary of State as a grantmaking organization by former Ben & Jerry’s finance head Michael Graning and company lawyer Palmina Fava. Cohen said the company appears to be the new entity to which Wednesday’s announcement referred. The Linked Prosperity Foundation is a limited liability company rather than a 501(c)(3) nonprofit like the old model, Bankowski pointed out, making the former subject to different financial and reporting requirements.
Although a judge dismissed the foundation’s claims against Magnum last week, future funding for Bankowski’s organization remains dependent on continued litigation, she said.
Wednesday’s statement included biographies of three new directors to the Ben & Jerry’s independent board, which guides the company’s social mission. Nora Benavidez, a civil rights and free speech attorney, Michael McAfee, CEO of the progressive think tank PolicyLink, and environmental advocate and nonprofit executive Eva Schulte have joined the company as independent directors, according to the release.
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“They bring deep experience and perspectives that will help us stay connected to the communities and movements we serve,” said Ben & Jerry’s CEO Jochanan Senf of the newcomers in the release. “We’re proving a way of doing business where our growth and strength connect directly to social impact, all whilst making delicious ice cream.”
Cohen said the new additions to the board seem like “amazing, really, really good people.” But the circumstances of their introduction are problematic, he said.
“I’m actually kind of surprised that none of them, you know, got in touch with me before doing this,” he said.
The way Cohen sees it, the three newcomers are replacing former directors who should still be on the board. Jennifer Henderson and Daryn Dodson left the Ben & Jerry’s board in December 2025 after having allegedly been pushed out by company leadership via a new term limit clause, according to court filings in the former directors’ ongoing lawsuit. Anurandha Mittal, the board’s former chair, was forced out around the same time after company officers deemed her unfit to serve, court documents allege.
“The people who were removed were removed inappropriately,” Cohen said. “The people who were added were added illegally.”
Cohen and Bankowski both said issues over board governance and the appointment of directors remain in active legal contention. Lawyers for Magnum have said the company adhered to contractual terms in the leadup to Dodson and Henderson’s departure, and currently face a separate defamation lawsuit from Mittal over the circumstances that led to her exit.
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