Henry Timms Email & Phone Number

Visiting Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation at the Said Business School

Co-author of the international bestselling book New Power, described by David Brooks in the New York Times as “the best window I’ve seen into this new world” and as a “must-read…a gift to our movements” by Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter. It was named as a Book of the Year by Bloomberg, Fortune, FT and CNBC. It was short-listed for the FT/McKinsey Book of the Year.

Henry created “Giving Tuesday”, a global philanthropic movement that now engages people in over 100 countries. Designed as a counterpoint to Black Friday, it has generated over $13 Billion for good causes in the US alone. By some estimates it is the largest and most diverse philanthropic movement in history. President Obama commented “The response to Giving Tuesday demonstrates the enormous potential we have to leave an enduring mark, not only in our communities but around the world”. The recent special Spring 2020 edition – supporting COVID-19 causes – catalyzed over $500M online.

Greater New York City Area

Henry is President and CEO of Lincoln Center – the world’s leading performing arts center, encompassing the Metropolitan Opera, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Juilliard, Film at Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center Theater, the School of American Ballet, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Under his leadership, Lincoln Center has been credited with a significant transformation and was named one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies". During the COVID-19 pandemic, he created an entire outdoor performing arts center, with ten stages and performance spaces, reaching a new and diverse audience. He has also significantly expanded the civic service of the organization. He has turned Lincoln Center into a food bank, a blood drive, and a polling station: all efforts to serve the city during the pandemic. The Wall St Journal commented “If post-Covid urban tourism had an emblem, it might well be Lincoln Center…”In the face of the crisis, he also has led the acceleration – by two years – and completed the fundraising for the $550M David Geffen Hall project, to create one of the world’s greatest performance spaces. By building through the pandemic forces, the project created over 6,000 jobs, and over half-a billion dollars of economic activity. Of note, 40% of contracts for the project were with minority and women-led business enterprises, and over 50% of the workforce are from diverse backgrounds.A signature of his tenure has been a commitment to diversity and inclusion. His executive team, senior staff and board of directors now benefit significantly from greater representation of diverse leadership, and he has transformed programming to feature artists from different backgrounds and perspectives. As the New York Times has noted “Lincoln Center is one of the few arts organizations to show substantial progress in bringing more diversity to its upper ranks”.

New York, Ny

As Executive Director of 92nd Street Y, Henry created programs and movements that foster learning, civic responsibility, culture and innovation, both in New York City and around the world. Under his leadership, the organization received a Cannes Lion at the International Festival of Creativity; the PRWeek Global Award for Nonprofit Campaign of the Year; and the inaugural UJA-Federation Riklis Prize in Agency Entrepreneurship. Henry also co-founded the annual Social Good Summit, which pioneered a new, inclusive summit model that opened up the critical discussions held during UN week to a much wider audience and led to concurrent gatherings around the world. As an extension of the Social Good Summit, Henry partnered with Wesleyan University to develop a MOOC (massive open online course) called “How to Change the World;" 51,000 students participated in its first year.Henry co-authored the “Big Idea” in the December 2014 edition of Harvard Business Review on “New Power,” which was just named one of the ten “Ideas of the Year” by CNN. Henry served as a practitioner in residence at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (Stanford PACS) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils. In 2014, Henry was named the NonProfit Times Influencer of the Year. He was a member of several philanthropic committees, including the selection committee for the 2015 CECP Excellence Awards and the Lipman Prize Committee at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Henry serves on the board of the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York.