Dr. Chauncy Lennon

Chauncy Lennon, Ph.D., is the New York-based vice president for learning and work at Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis that is committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. He leads Lumina’s community college strategy to equitably expand access to high-quality short-term credentials and associate degrees.

Through the Global Philanthropy group at JPMorgan Chase, Chauncy Lennon works with community partners around the world to promote economic inclusion and opportunity by supporting workforce readiness, financial capability, small business, and community development. Dr. Lennon leads New Skills at Work, a 5-year $250 million initiative to help workers and industries invest in the skills needed to compete and prosper in the global economy. Dr. Lennon joined JPMorgan Chase from the Ford Foundation, where his grant-making focused on promoting economic advancement for low-income workers by improving access to workforce development and work support programs.

Before Dr. Lennon joined the Ford Foundation, he served as the senior vice president for Asset Building at Seedco, a national workforce development intermediary. At Seedco, Dr. Lennon was in charge of growing and operating initiatives that connect low-wage workers to benefits and services on a national scale. He was the research director for a study about mobility patterns of the working poor in New York City that was published in two books written by Katherine S. Newman: "No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City," and "Chutes and Ladders: Navigating the Low-Wage Labor Market."

Dr. Lennon is a graduate of Williams College. He earned a master’s degree at the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University. He taught urban studies at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs at Barnard College before turning his attention to workforce development.