In 1998 he became director of the Sydney Opera House, and from 2002 to 2009 he was chief executive of the South Bank Centre in London.

Lynch has overseen the successful rehabilitation of the Royal Festival Hall, which was re-opened in October 2007 by The Queen (King George VI having opened the original building in 1951).

[2] On 27 May 2011, Lynch was appointed as CEO of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority by the Hong Kong Government.

[3] Lynch was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM)[4] in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2001 for services to arts administration (principally as General Manager of the Australia Council) and in 2008 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Birthday Honours.

[5] In the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2017, Lynch was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).