Adrian Shanker will step down from leading the organization at the end of March. 

ALLENTOWN, PA – Today, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center announces that its founding executive director Adrian Shanker has decided to step down at the end of March 2022.

Since founding Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in June 2014, Shanker has led the capital fundraising, property acquisition, and programmatic development from the start-up phase to its current annual budget size of $1.6 million with two dozen employees. Under his leadership, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center gained a statewide reputation for its impact in LGBTQ+ health promotion. The organization successfully sued the Trump administration to block three anti-LGBTQ rules from going into effect. He created the biannual Pennsylvania LGBTQ Health Needs Assessment, which is now the largest and most consequential state-level LGBTQ+ health data in the nation. In 2017, Shanker navigated a merger with Pride of the Greater Lehigh Valley that led to significant programmatic and budgetary growth of the region’s annual Pride festival. In 2021, the organization served more than 10,000 community members through supportive services, arts and culture programs, youth programs, and more.

Claire Ippoliti, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center’s board chair, said, “The board of directors feels both gratitude and sadness with the departure of Adrian Shanker as our executive director. Under Adrian’s strong leadership, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center has thrived and grown. Adrian will be missed. The board of directors is committed to ensuring a smooth transition and looks forward to welcoming a new leader.”

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to work to create, build, and grow Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center,” Shanker said. “The decision to step down from an organization you love, especially one you are the founder of, is never easy, but I have decided to do so, because I have full confidence in the board and staff of the center, who I know are well-situated to continue to grow the impact of Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center’s programs and services into the future. I am profoundly grateful for the trust of our community, every donor and volunteer, who shared the vision we set forth in 2014 and helped to make this dream of an LGBTQ+ community center in the Lehigh Valley a reality.”

About Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center: (www.bradburysullivancenter.org)

Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center provides arts, health, youth, and Pride programs to celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community across the Greater Lehigh Valley.

 
Information Provided By:
Adrian Shanker
Executive Director
Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center
 

 

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