Lonnie Bunch
The Convener
The room, the network and the deal, brings the right people together.
Lonnie Bunch reads as The Convener because his defining achievement could not have been built alone. Raising over 700 million dollars from thousands of donors to open the National Museum of African American History and Culture meant assembling communities, philanthropists, politicians, and storytellers around a single shared purpose. As Smithsonian Secretary he still leads this way, relationally and strategically, gathering diverse audiences around cultural meaning and connecting people to history through one another.
“The Smithsonian is the glue that holds a nation together. When the angst and pain happened after the murder of George Floyd, I realized the Smithsonian had a role to play — to help the public grapple with things that have divided us.”
“One of my great strengths is to be able to look at the big picture and then put my head down and do the work. Slowly but surely it began to work.”
“Being secretary was my way of thanking an institution that embraced me when few places did — and helping the Smithsonian rethink itself as a twenty-first century institution.”
The David Rubenstein Show: “Lonnie Bunch”
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