Seminar Moderator Lee T. Bycel
Lee T. Bycel is Executive Director, Western Region of American Jewish World Service. AJWS is an international development organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger, and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion, or nationality. Prior to joining AJWS, he served as Senior Advisor, Global Strategy of International Medical Corps. For over a decade he has moderated a variety of Leadership Seminars at the Aspen Institute. During the past five years he has made several trips to East Africa, including three humanitarian trips to Darfur and Chad, where he visited several refugee camps. In April of 2006 he was in Rwanda for the 12th commemoration of their genocide. He has spoken extensively around the country on issues related to Darfur as well as the challenges facing the disenfranchised of the world and the imperative to pursue justice.
For several years he served as President of The Brandeis-Bardin Institute, a national conference and retreat center located in Southern California. For fifteen years he was Dean of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, where he was the Senior Academic and Administrative Officer of the campus. He was Assistant Professor of Leadership and Applied Theology. He has also served as the Smither Visiting Professor of World Religions at the Claremont School of Theology.
Born in Los Angeles, Lee graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in Philosophy. He earned his doctorate from the Claremont School of Theology.
Bycel has extensive leadership experience and has participated in many programs. In the fall of 2005, he participated in the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. For several years he has addressed the U.S. Presidential Scholars in Washington, D.C. on the subject of Leadership and Ethics. He served as President of the County of Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations. He has a number of publications to his credit as well as the recipient of many awards including the National Conference of Community and Justice (NCCJ) Humanitarian Award.