As president of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Reynold Levy has become synonymous with the revitalization of one of the country’s most notable cultural institutions. Levy was selected for the post in 2002, a time when the center was mired in dispute over what direction renovations of the nearly 50-year-old facility should take.

Levy had a mammoth task on his hands. He not only had to rally the 12 independent arts groups that make up Lincoln Center behind a common vision. He also had to spearhead efforts to raise the more than $1 billion needed for the redevelopment. Construction on the redesign got underway in March 2007 and is slated for completion by 2010.

Levy has a long history of leading nonprofit groups. He was president of the International Rescue Committee, an international aid organization, for five years; and head of the AT&T Foundation for 12 years.

In 1977, Levy took the reins of the 92nd Street Y cultural center after heading a task force to pull New York City out of a fiscal crisis.

Levy has also worked in the for-profit sector, serving as AT&T Inc.’s vice president for government relations in the mid 1990s.

A graduate of Hobart College, he holds a law degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.

He is married to Elizabeth Cooke and has a son, Justin, and a stepdaughter, Emily.