Timothy Lloyd has served as the executive director of the American Folklore Society since 2001.

Before coming to the Society, Lloyd served as executive director of Cityfolk, a nationally recognized folk arts organization located in Dayton, Ohio. Earlier still, he was assistant director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Earlier in his career he served for 14 years as director of folk arts programs for the Ohio Arts Council, and as a staff folklorist for the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Maryland State Arts Council.

Lloyd received his PhD in American studies from The George Washington University, with specialties in American folklore and cultural history, 19th-century American literature, and African art and culture. His research interests include American foodways, occupational culture, and the history of public practice in the field of folklore. He has published articles and reviews in the major American folklore journals, and co-authored Lake Erie Fishermen: Work, Identity and Tradition (University of Illinois Press), named the best maritime history book of 1990 by the North American Society for Oceanic History.

Lloyd has served as a board and committee member or consultant for many organizations, including the French-American Foundation, the Fund for Folk Culture, the Michigan Council on the Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Michigan State University Museum, the Ministry of Culture and Communication of the Republic of France, the National Council for the Traditional Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Recording Preservation Board, the Ohio Arts Council, the Ohio Humanities Council, the Ohio State University Libraries, and the Smithsonian Institution.

In November 1998 he took part in a French government-sponsored study tour of local, regional, and national écomusées throughout France. He is a visiting professor of folklore, and has lectured, at several Chinese universities. In August 2012 he served a residency for the Fulbright Specialist Program at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.

Lloyd raises funds for and coordinates all of the Society's special projects, including its partnership with the China Folklore Society and other institutions in China, the National Folklore Archives Initiative, the Consultancy and Professional Development Program, and the Society's long-standing relationship with the Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. He represents the AFS within the American Council of Learned Societies (on one of whose executive committees he serves), the National Humanities Alliance, UNESCO, and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

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