Wendy Lewis, newly named interim chief executive officer at Chicago Sinfonietta.
Wendy Lewis has been engaged to serve as Interim CEO of Chicago Sinfonietta, while the Board of Directors conducts a national search to replace outgoing CEO and President Blake-Anthony Johnson, whose departure was announced in October. Lewis will begin her term with Chicago Sinfonietta on January 1, 2025. Lewis is founder and CEO of Wendy Lewis, LLC, a diversity, equity, and inclusion practice firm; the creator of AllySHIFT, a platform for advocacy and sustainable equity; and the executive producer of the award-winning documentary, “Beyond Their Years, The Incredible Legacies of Herb Carnegie and Buck O’Neil.” Lewis formerly served as Global Chief Diversity Officer and VP of Community Engagement for McDonald’s. Prior to McDonald’s, Lewis had a 30-year career with Major League Baseball, in which she became first-in-sports to lead human resources and diversity, equity, and inclusion roles and to centralize both disciplines with the Chicago Cubs and later as a league-wide practice. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and a Master of Business Administration from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
