Deputy Executive Director
Lynn Faria is the Deputy Executive Director of the Empire State Pride Agenda and Foundation, New York’s statewide civil rights organizations committed to achieving equality and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) New Yorkers and our families. Lynn oversees an 18-person staff across the state and is responsible for integrating the many facets of the organizations’ work into a cohesive and productive whole.
Lynn first joined the Pride Agenda in 2006 as Director of Institutional Giving, and has since risen through the ranks, serving as Director of Development, Managing Director of Operations and Deputy Executive Director. She has a deep familiarity with the Pride Agenda as well as our broader community across the state. While serving as Director of Development for the organization for four years, Lynn led the Pride Agenda’s fundraising efforts and managed the Development staff, resulting in a growth of over 25% in income in her tenure. She has been a part of many of the Pride Agenda’s recent legislative victories including the first-time passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act in the Assembly in 2007 and the passage of the Dignity for All Students Act, marking the first time that gender identity and expression were explicitly mentioned in state law. As the Managing Director of Operations in 2011, Lynn helped lead the organization’s internal operations, executing a statewide strategy culminating in the passage of marriage equality in New York State.
Lynn brings to her work at the Pride Agenda over a decade of non-profit management experience. Lynn served as Executive Director of Dyke TV, a national cable access show, where she was responsible for organizational oversight and fundraising, including corporate and foundation grant submissions and reports. Most recently, Lynn was the Membership Manager at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a statewide nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting, restoring, and conserving Maine's environment. Prior to that she spent four years at the SoHo and TriBeCa Partnerships where she served as director and oversaw membership and fundraising efforts, which included corporate and foundation support.
Lynn graduated magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with bachelor degrees in Political Science and Women’s Studies. She is from Taunton, Massachusetts and has lived in New York City for 12 years. Lynn currently resides in Brooklyn, NY with her wife Kendra.