The Convener
The room, the network and the deal, brings the right people together.
Lonnie Bunch reads as The Convener because his defining achievement could not have been built alone. Raising over 700 million dollars from thousands of donors to open the National Museum of African American History and Culture meant assembling communities, philanthropists, politicians, and storytellers around a single shared purpose.
“Did no place that would let black people stop. And so I remember he was falling asleep and he pulled off and he pulled into a motor court. And he pulled in and my mother, my brother were asleep, and I was watching him and he went out to smoke a cigarette. And I noticed he was standing under a sign that said white only.”
“Because you told me to. What I really, realized is that I loved what I did. And I knew that I had the best view I could see everything. The story is I took President Obama through the museum and he came to my office and he said, you got a better view than I do. And I said, well, you only worked eight years. I worked 11.”
“That's right, I was at American history for 12 years and wasn't going to leave. And Chicago recruited me and I really wasn't planning on going, but I had a meeting with the mayor and the governor of Illinois, and they said, this is a city that has been tortured by race.”
“I think that no one knew what it was like to lead during a pandemic. But what has happened is as a result of that, I've really learned the wonders of the Smithsonian when it comes together. The Smithsonian is often a conglomerate of museums and research centers, and there doesn't always blend.”
The David Rubenstein Show: “Lonnie Bunch”
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