Tim Delaney

President and CEO
(202) 962-0322 x121
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An attorney with extensive leadership experience in the business, government, and nonprofit sectors, Tim Delaney has served as the President & CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits since July 2008. Tim began his career at a large multi-state law firm, where he focused on litigation, media law, and government relations. Appointed in 1995 to be Arizona’s Solicitor General, Tim successfully guided Arizona to win several cases in the U.S. Supreme Court. He later chaired the Transition Team for newly-elected Attorney General Janet Napolitano, who promoted him to the top staff position of Chief Deputy Attorney General. In 2001, Tim left the Attorney General’s Office to create the Center for Leadership, Ethics & Public Service, an independent nonprofit through which he worked with more than 22,000 people across the country championing positive ethics, advancing civic engagement, and promoting democracy.

During his career, Tim has helped nonprofits from a variety of vantage points, including as an attorney, author, board chair, CEO, consultant, founder, incubator, lobbyist, teacher, trainer, and volunteer. For instance, Tim previously served as board chair of Valley Leadership, adjunct faculty member at a major university teaching courses on “Leadership & Ethics in the Nonprofit Sector,” as a national Training Fellow for the nonpartisan Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, and author of a guidebook on nonprofit advocacy.

In the field of ethics and public trust, Tim has served as a prosecutor (helping to impeach a Governor and later remove four other elected officials from office), author, legislative drafter (e.g., developing Arizona’s Public Service Ethics Act), and consultant and trainer for businesses, governments, and nonprofits.

Numerous organizations have formally recognized Tim’s community and professional contributions, including the National Association of Attorneys General (Marvin Award for leadership and service, and co-recipient of the Best Brief Award for legal writing in the U.S. Supreme Court), National Association of Community Leadership (Distinguished Leadership Award), LBJ School of Public Affairs (Distinguished Public Service Award – alumnus of the year), and Arizona State University (School of Public Affairs’ Faculty Associate Award and the Nonprofit Management Institute’s Outstanding Faculty Member Award).