James L. Bennett
Midwest Regional Director
CONTACT: Midwest Regional Office, 312-663-4413
James Bennett is the Midwest Regional Director for Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV.
Bennett brings more than 15 years of not-for-profit management experience to Lambda Legal. Most recently, he led the City of Chicago's Katrina Relief Project, a project of Heartland Alliance that provided housing and resettlement support to more than 2,600 Katrina families who resettled in the Chicago area.
Since 1997, Bennett has been a member of Broadway United Methodist Church, known for its vigorous commitment to issues of justice and marriage equality. Working through his church, Bennett advocates, locally and nationwide, for full-inclusion in the church and against the discriminatory policies of the denomination.
Bennett's work experience in the non-profit and LGBT/HIV community includes the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Howard Brown Health Center and the American Red Cross in development, marketing and administration leadership positions. From 2001 to 2005, Bennett was the host of Windy City Radio, The Voice of Chicago's LGBT community on WCKG FM.
Bennett holds an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois and a B.S. from Illinois State University. Bennett also graduated from the Second City Conservatory and is a company member of the award winning sketch comedy ensemble, GayCo Productions.
