Henry Timms

Henry Timms is the Director of the Charles Simon Center the 92nd Street Y in New York where he oversees a wide range of programs and activities. These include the Y’s prestigious lecture series that delivers over 150 public events each year, featuring leading global figures discussing the most compelling issues.  At the Y, he created and executive produced the “United Nations Week Digital Media Lounge”, an annual platform bringing together 1,000 international bloggers and digital journalists and attracting a global live stream audience of 50, 000: delivered in partnership with the UN Foundation, Mashable, and Skype. He also directed the “Conference of Nobel Laureates”, a private convening uniting Nobels and other leading minds to address global challenges. Featuring a public session with Elie Wiesel and David Axelrod. His role oversees development of all humanities programming, including the leading seminar series Africa: Conversations with a Continent and the long-running Great Decisions foreign affairs program, along with hundreds of seminars and classes on international film, literature, languages and more, both at the Lexington Ave HQ and at the Tribeca satellite. 

Previous to the Y, Henry led the start-up of the Global Creative Leadership Summit, a new elite annual event delivered in partnership with the United Nations. Described by the Huffington Post as: “an array of truly inspiring women and men from around the globe”, it attracts a unique VIP list of Heads of State, Nobel Laureates, CEOs and leading minds from many cultures. The Summit is the flagship event of the Louise Blouin Foundation where, as International Director, Henry oversaw the Foundation’s strategy, communications and activities, including working on the launch and development of a new $30 million museum. In this role a key focus was creating international programs and partnerships. This led to Henry developing strategic relationships at the highest levels in China, the Middle East and beyond. His work here included investing in New Orleans’ regeneration and a major cultural research initiative with the OECD.

Earlier in his career, Henry worked for two of the Prince of Wales’ charities: Arts & Business and Arts & Kids. These organizations were committed to stimulating philanthropic corporate partnerships with the cultural world. As Director of Business, he oversaw strategy for corporate activity, delivering to 500 members from Amex to Zurich Financial Services. He also ran HRH’s President’s Forum – an elite network of CEOs. In this capacity he delivered speeches on culture and corporate responsibility across Europe, including a keynote at the British Museum and for the British Council in Norway.

Henry has been an RSA Fellow since 2002.