David Kilmnick, PhD, MSW is a leading national advocate within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities and is the founder and president/CEO of the New York LGBT Network. Over the last 30 years, Kilmnick has worked tirelessly to end homophobia and transphobia by building successful non-profit organizations that support and advocate for the LGBT communities in Long Island and New York City. As a national voice on LGBT issues and at the request of President Obama’s administration, Kilmnick served as keynote speaker on behalf of the U.S. Embassy in New Zealand at its national LGBT conference.
Kilmnick regularly meets with government officials, community leaders, and business and education executives to discuss the latest issues and concerns affecting those in the LGBT community. He frequently appears on major news outlets to be a voice for suburban and underserved LGBT communities, discussing a wide range of equity, social, advocacy, and policy issues. Adding to Kilmnick’s extensive media experience, he also works with several leading corporations and professional sports leagues nationwide to train executives on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Complementing his innovative and groundbreaking work in the LGBT community, Kilmnick is a seasoned educator with over 25 years of teaching experience. Kilmnick has been on the forefront of distance and online education and has more than 15 years of expertise and practice in online teaching, learning management systems, and course and curricula development.
Kilmnick will be joining the USF School of Social Work faculty in December as an assistant professor of instruction and chair of the online MSW program. He has served as a professor at several colleges and universities, teaching in schools of social work, non-profit management, and public policy and administration. He received his PhD in social welfare from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, where his dissertation focused on heterosexist attitudes and changes following contact with an openly gay instructor.