Lawrence Sullivan, PhD

Lawrence Sullivan, PhD has a long and distinguished career in the field of religion and academia. In 2020, they were appointed Papal Consultor on the Pontifical Council for Dialogue among the Religions by Pope Francis, a role they will serve in for five years. Lawrence was previously the Senior Fellow and President Emeritus of the Fetzer Institute, a philanthropic operating foundation with assets of ~$500 million. As President & CEO of Fetzer, Sullivan led the Institute to internationalize, develop collaborations in all sectors of society, and lift up powerful examples of love and forgiveness. Lawrence is also the Co-Founder, Chairman, and President of Chiefofstaff.com LLC, a cloud-based SaaS and mobile technology company. Sullivan has also held positions at the University of Notre Dame and Harvard University. At Notre Dame, they directed the formation of new degree programs in world religions and world Christianity and taught in two departments, theology and anthropology. At Harvard, they held the endowed Chair as Professor of World Religions and Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, creating Faculty Advisory Councils in the Arts, Professions, Natural Sciences, Humanities, and Social Sciences to engage all schools and disciplines in the study of religions.

Lawrence Sullivan, PhD, obtained their Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in History of Comparative World Religions from the University of Chicago between 1975 and 1981. Prior to this, they obtained a Master in Divinity from the Catholic Theological Union between 1973 and 1975, with a focus in Theology/Theological Studies.