Leonard Lee: President and CEO
New Bedford, MA — Leonard Lee has been appointed as President and CEO of the SouthCoast Community Foundation. Lee brings over 30 years of public, private, and nonprofit expertise, including leadership roles committed to advancing public health and advocating for historically underrepresented, marginalized communities.
Lee comes to the Community Foundation from his post as General Manager and Curator for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and as a consultant to Kelley Chunn & Associates, an agency providing strategic communications and cause marketing for diversity, inclusion and social change. Previously, Lee held senior leadership roles for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, addressing community health issues through youth programs such as violence prevention and Safe Spaces for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and/or Allied (LGBTQIA+). He was also the Deputy Commissioner of Public Health for the State of Connecticut.
Additionally, Lee served several nonprofits as their Executive Director, including Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) for the Dorchester Neighborhood Service Center; Opening the Doors Wider in Nursing (ODWIN) Learning Center, an adult education program for individuals seeking to earn or finish college degrees; Mission Works a capacity-building nonprofit; and the Roxbury YMCA.
The SouthCoast Community Foundation is a nonprofit serving the communities of Southeastern Massachusetts through philanthropy. The Community Foundation mission is to mobilize philanthropy by matching donors and resources with community needs for the benefit of our region. Since 1995, the organization has distributed over $50 million from more than 200 funds to humanitarian, educational, and cultural organizations in the region. For more information, visit www.southcoastcf.org.
