In 2012 Charles G. Lief JD became President of Naropa University in Boulder, the first Buddhist Inspired liberal arts university in the West, retiring as President Emeritus in mid-2025. Chuck has a fifty-year affiliation with Naropa—first as a student from the age of 19 of Naropa's founder, the Tibetan Buddhist teacher, the late Chogyam Trungpa; as lawyer for the university; and later as board chair. Naropa's BA and MA curriculum is built on a foundation of deep training in the contemplative practices of mindfulness and compassion, with an emphasis on experiential learning and service.   

Prior to assuming his current role, Chuck led several innovative and successful social enterprises, including the Greyston Foundation, founded by the Zen teacher Roshi Bernie Glassman, and Amida Care in New York City, the largest HIV/AIDS health care HMO in the country, providing essential housing, health care, and employment to thousands of homeless and low-income people in the Northeast.  He has helped create in excess of $200 million in low-income housing together with social enterprises, child care and support services.

He has served in leadership capacities on numerous boards.  He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Lion's Roar Foundation and recently retired as board chair of the homeless services nonprofit Bridge House. He is a board member of the Holistic Life Foundation, the innovative Center for Cartoon Studies, and was chair of the board of the Social Enterprise Alliance. He is currently an advisor to the Vermont Community Loan Fund.  Chuck has been married for 50 years to the Buddhist teacher and author Judy Lief, and they are parents of 2 daughters and grandparents of 4.