Erwin de Leon, Ph.D.
Chief Diversity Officer, SPS; Lecturer in the Discipline of Nonprofit Management; Research Fellow, Knology; Member, Empire State Bioethics Consortium
Erwin de Leon, Ph.D. is the Chief Diversity Officer of Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies and a Lecturer in the Nonprofit Management Program. He serves as a Board Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of New York and as a Strategic Advisor to the Saamarthya Foundation. He is also a Research Fellow at Knology, and a member of the Empire State Bioethics Consortium. His research and teaching interests include nonprofit organizations; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); organizational ethics; and AAPI and immigrant communities.
Prior to his current position, Dr. de Leon served as the Deputy Academic Director for the Nonprofit Management Program. He was also a Research Associate at Urban Institute’s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center and Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, where he headed research projects and authored or co-authored reports and articles on nonprofit-government contracting, immigrant organizations, public-private partnerships, and place-based collective impact initiatives. He has served in various organizations, including the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness; The Aspen Institute; Center for Progressive Leadership; Human Rights Campaign; Episcopal Relief and Development; Educators for Social Responsibility; and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. He was also an executive committee member of the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project, an organization that led the effort to secure the Congressional Gold Medal for Filipino-American WWII soldiers.
In 2022, he was named one of Crain’s Notable LGBTQ Leaders and included in City & State’s Responsible 100. In 2023 and 2024, he was recognized by PoliticsNY as one of its Power Players in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Dr. de Leon received a Ph.D. in Public and Urban Policy and an M.S. in Nonprofit Management from the New School’s Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment. A native of the Philippines, he completed his B.S. in Management Engineering from the Ateneo de Manila University.
Courses:
- NOPM PS5235: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Nonprofits and Philanthropy
- NOPM PS5300: Social Impact and Performance Measurement
- NOPM PS5335: DEIA at Work: Leading Inclusive Organizations
- NOPM PS5390: Nonprofit Management Capstone Project
Education
- Ph.D., Public and Urban Policy, The New School
- M.S., Nonprofit Management, The New School
- B.S., Management Engineering, Ateneo de Manila University
