Erwin de Leon is the Chief Diversity Officer of Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies and a Lecturer in the Nonprofit Management M.S. Program. He is also a Research Fellow in 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; data and technology in civil society; and AAPI and immigrant communities.

Prior to his current position, Dr. de Leon served as the Deputy Academic Director for the Nonprofit Management M.S. Program. He was 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, and Homelessness, 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, he was recognized by PoliticsNY as one of its Power Players in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Dr. de Leon received his Ph.D. in Public and Urban Policy and 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. He lives in the Yorkville neighborhood of New York City with his husband, Rev. Dr. John Beddingfield, and their border collie mix, April. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Instagram.