Lee Bynum, Ph.D.
Lee Bynum, Ph.D. (they/them), Senior Consultant, is a seasoned leader with more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit strategy, philanthropy, arts leadership, and higher education. Their consulting work focuses on equity-centered fundraising, strategic planning, inclusive governance, and leadership development. As a Senior Consultant, they support mission-driven organizations in navigating change, deepening their impact, and building sustainable structures rooted in inclusive, just practices. Their services include executive coaching, equity integration, community engagement strategy, post-crisis repositioning, fundraising plan development, and strategic communications.
Dr. Bynum’s work at The Inclusion Firm builds on a deep portfolio of executive leadership and national service. They have held senior positions at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where they led major equity initiatives, cross-sector partnerships, and multimillion-dollar advancement campaigns, and Minnesota Opera, where they built the sector’s first equity-focused unit at a major presenting organization. In philanthropy, at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, they managed a diverse portfolio of arts and higher education grants and contributed to the foundation’s national equity strategy. They held senior roles in strategy, fundraising, and curricular design at Columbia University.
In addition to their consulting work, Dr. Bynum serves on the faculty at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, where they teach graduate-level courses on inclusive fundraising, nonprofit leadership, and systemic change in philanthropy. They have established a reputation for integrating theory with practice and helping students connect organizational missions to equity-forward fundraising strategies. Dr. Bynum also has lectured at Yale, Harvard, Brown, Cornell, and New York Universities, and has mentored the next generation of arts leaders with the League of American Orchestras, Opera America, Cleveland Institute of Music, Brooklyn College, Hong Kong University for Science and Technology, and the Sphinx Organization. They are a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator, presenting on their work and research at convenings hosted by the prominent universities and service organizations across the globe. Their work advancing arts equity through digital technology has received attention from scholars and cultural commentators, including in three edited volumes, multiple doctoral dissertations, and features in the New York Times and NBC Nightly News. Dr. Bynum holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia University.
