Dan Lebowitz has served as the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society since October of 2008. He is the third executive director in the Center’s 30+ year history. Lebowitz’s tenure has seen a wide spectrum of work, from a partnership with the NFL around sexual harassment prevention to a solidified position as one of the most sought-after resources for capacity-building and leadership education to sport and social change organizations. During his time the Center has done primary violence prevention work with Major League Baseball, the military, the Boston Police Department and other community engagement entities involved in positive youth development and normative culture change.

Lebowitz possesses an extensive background in the design, development, and implementation of educational and employment programs aimed at opening opportunity for urban youth and the many underserved and diverse populations of the City of Boston. Throughout his career he has worked in and or managed a myriad of programs toward this end, including Brandeis University’s Transitional Year Program, the Waltham Group, Upward Bound, the City of Boston Employment and Economic Policy Administration, the Boston Private Industry Council’s Boston Compact Initiative and Summer Jobs Program and the Department of Transitional Assistance’s Housing and Housing Services Division for the Homeless.

Disabled as a youth, Lebowitz used the medium of sport to shed leg braces, become a competitive body builder, coach high school basketball, and direct a performance training business in which his clients included world class speed skaters and professional athletes. This history cemented his belief in sport as the embodiment of inclusion and as a common ground foundation for the positive development of social change. Lebowitz embraces the notion that sport bridges the divisiveness of politics, offers conflict resolution to adversaries, and brings a sense of community to the disenfranchised.