Shannon Leskin began her tenure with NCAJ in 2019 and was named executive director in October 2022. She is a management and governance expert with over 40 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Over the course of her career, Leskin has been privileged to work with some of our country’s finest nonprofit institutions in the arts, health and education sectors: The Smithsonian Institution, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, The United Way of America and Duke University, among others.

Highlights of her career include being the youngest managing director in the country of a fully professional LORT theatre. She was also a founding member of the creative team that launched the Non-Profits and Technology Conference Series, a national program teaching non-profits early adoption of digital technology. Leskin is proud to have coordinated APPEAL (AProgressive Palliative care Educational curriculum for African Americans at Life’s End), a national training program of Duke University Divinity School’s Institute on Care at the End of Life.

In her previous role as NCAJ’s compliance & operations administrator, Leskin oversaw compliance and operations for all NCAJ entities and worked closely with the executive director on budgetary and financial management.

Leskin earned a bachelor of fine arts in theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University. Since moving from Los Angeles to the Triangle 27 years ago, she has served in board leadership positions for NC Child, Triangle Day School, Mallarme Chamber Players, SEEDS and The Rotary Club of Durham.

Shannon enjoys life in the Trinity Park area of Durham with her husband, Will, and rescue border collie mixes, Gracie and Murr.