Casey Fenton

As CouchSurfing's original founder and now as its Chief Inspiration Officer, Casey Fenton focuses his energy primarily on engaging the community and guiding the organization’s progress towards achieving its vision of a better world. CouchSurfing is a network of welcoming people worldwide where members share their hospitality with travelers or stay at the home of a local to learn about their culture. He believes that CouchSurfing is the vehicle by which people can go beyond their limits, breaking down the financial and psychological barriers that prevent them from exploring the world and learning about others.

Growing up in a small town in Maine, north of Boston in the United States, Casey came to the realization that his options were limited by his perspective and experiences. He knew that to make the best decisions in life he needed more possibilities to draw from, so he set about experiencing as much as he could. He met new, different people, and visited as many new places as possible. He traveled around the world in search of what could help other people literally broaden their horizons. After a number of significant experiences, including in Egypt and Iceland, the idea for CouchSurfing was formed. Casey programmed the original website in 2003 and 2004 while living in Alaska.

Not everyone in the world needs to be a CouchSurfer for us to create a global community where respect and appreciation for diversity prevail. But, he believes, we do need to create a certain number of experiences between a large number of people to create the ripple effect we want, out into the wider world. As Chief Inspiration Officer, Casey focuses on inspiring both the CouchSurfing staff and the community to create experiences that are fun, exciting, and stimulate learning and growth. Experiences that he hopes will have a transformative effect on our world.

Casey Fenton is also an Ashoka fellow, a designation he is very proud of. Ashoka is the world's largest network of social entrepreneurs, creating a world of change by building an Everyone A Changemaker society.


 

 

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