Lee Cooper

Lee is passionate about the power of connecting human potential, innovation and ingenuity to solve complex social challenges.

Embracing curiosity and a multidisciplinary approach to value creation, Lee's career spans non-government organisations, charities, social enterprises, and profit-for-purpose entities, engaging in diverse social fields such as youth, homelessness, addiction, suicide, disability, mental health, and cancer.

His roles have ranged from service delivery, advocacy, and community development to marketing, fundraising, service design, social innovation, and impact measurement. Progressing from team member to executive and board levels, Lee deeply appreciates individual contributions, underscoring the pivotal role of relationships in generating value.

As a founding director of the Social Enterprise Council NSW & ACT and advisory member for Sydney FoodLab, Lee currently advises Generations Australia and Sydney Policy Lab.

In 2023, with social design agency ThinkPlace, he earned a Social Impact Good Design Award for innovative place-based participatory design methods combing Indigenous knowledge systems and challenging traditional design hierarchies and has contributed to actioned based research including From Surviving to Thriving, Managing Hybrid Enterprises Guidebook and Strengthening Australian Civil Society.

Holder of two UTS Master's degrees – one in management and the other in transdisciplinary innovation – Lee combines academic depth with practical experience which he brings to his teaching practice integrating theory with experiential learning, co-creating spaces with students to foster innovative approaches in solving social challenges.

lee.cooper@unsw.edu.au