Benton Routh Named 2024 Sylvanus Thayer Fellow

Benton Routh '86 Th'86 Th'87 (l) and Thayer Dean Alexis Abramson. (Photo by Mark Washburn)

Routh earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Dartmouth, then went on to have a thriving career in numerous consulting and marketing roles.

He served as a principal for Booz Allen Hamilton and in executive leadership roles for both ExxonMobil and FleetCor Technologies. At ExxonMobil, he was a global executive leader in the payments and commercial fuels business as well as a US brand executive leader at ExxonMobil Fuels Marketing. At FleetCor, Routh served as president of the Petroleum Marketer Division and as chief marketing officer. He is currently an active private investor and serves as chairman of the Board of Directors for The McPherson Companies in Atlanta.

A native of Texas, Routh applied to Dartmouth early decision because he wanted to attend a top-rated school in an outdoorsy environment that was completely different from where he had grown up. "I lived in upstate New York in middle school, so I had some flavor of what the northeast was like," he recalled, noting his love of skiing, hiking and backpacking. "College is a good time to go experience different things and experiment."

Routh hadn't planned to study engineering. In fact, he initially wanted to major in history and go to law school, but as classes began, he quickly realized that he was better at math than he was at reading and writing. He loved engineering for its systems-oriented approach, especially in the context of a liberal arts education.

Routh recalled an especially fond memory that happened the summer after his junior year at Dartmouth when he got a job working in a research lab at Texas Instruments in Dallas on a speech recognition project during the early days of artificial intelligence. When Routh returned to Thayer for classes, Dean Charles Hutchinson got wind of what Routh had been up to and approached Routh with an idea: What if Texas Instruments sponsored a research project that you could do at Dartmouth on one of their computers? Even better—what if they paid for you to do the project while getting your master's?

Routh recalled, "I went down there and I talked to them, and it all worked out. Suddenly, I'm doing a master's in engineering." Routh is still grateful to Dean Hutchinson for "encouraging me to be ambitious."

After graduating with his master's, Routh interviewed with management consulting firms who were interested in him because he wasn't like the other applicants—he had an engineering background and therefore was "a little different."

"Even though I was in consulting, I had a technology background. I would always play it up. I would say: 'I understand the engineering. I understand the math," he said. "I credit Dartmouth's liberal arts education for giving me the ability to extend concepts and push myself throughout my career without having to go back and get a specialized degree."

Now, years later, Routh remains strongly connected to Thayer and is actively involved in fundraising. As chair of the Annual Fund Executive Committee, Routh loves giving back to the future generations of Dartmouth. He said the role is perfect for him because "when you're raising money, by definition, you're helping the students by helping run the School."

Staying connected to Thayer also gives Routh an excuse to come back to Dartmouth a few times a year. "I like to see what's going on at the School," Routh said. It also gives him a chance to re-connect with his college classmates. "I always find it an enjoyable time and experience."

The Sylvanus Thayer Fellow award was established as a way to honor alumni and friends who have distinguished themselves with a strong commitment to serve Dartmouth, Thayer and the community at large.