Henry Timms to Step Down as President of Lincoln Center

Timms, who steered Lincoln Center through the pandemic, will become CEO of the Brunswick Group, a public relations firm

Henry Timms, who has been the President and CEO of Lincoln Center since 2019, has announced his resignation from the post — to become CEO of the public relations firm Brunswick Group.

Timms spent the bulk of his tenure steering Lincoln Center through the turbulent pandemic period, during which time he created an outdoor performing arts center with ten stages and performance spaces. As a result, over 70 New York performing arts organizations were able to continue their operations, and more than 300,000 people attended outdoor events.

Timms also oversaw the $550 million renovation and reopening of David Geffen Hall. The rebuild project created more than 6,000 jobs, with 40% of contracts being allocated to minority- and women-led enterprises.

He has also significantly expanded the center's programming to include a range of other genres, in the hope of enticing a broader range of people to the center's venues. Some of these decisions — including the winding down of the Mostly Mozart Festival — have not been met with universal approval. In 2022, music critic Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker that Timms' goals seemed "fundamentally out of step with Lincoln Center and its public, both extant and potential."

"I feel proud of what we’ve done," Timms told the The New York Times. "But I also always believe that change is a good thing."

"It has been the honor of a lifetime to lead ⁦Lincoln Center⁩ these past five years," Timms added on social media. "And I am thrilled to take on a new challenge this Summer as the CEO of ⁦the Brunswick Group."

"In our perfect world, we’d have him continue to do the job," said Steven R. Swartz, the chairman of the Lincoln Center board. "But we certainly understand that he sees this opportunity as his next step and obviously wish him all the best."