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Valda Boyd Ford, M.P.H., M.S., R.N., Term: 2005–2009
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 Ms. Valda Boyd Ford is a well-known presenter on leadership, public health, and cultural competency. She is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Human Diversity, Inc., one of the nation’s leading training institutes on cultural competency since 1998. Her particular interest is in creating environments that allow for all people to be respected regardless of race, religion, national origin, or other perceived differences. She served as Director of Community and Multicultural Affairs at the University of Nebraska Medical Center for almost six years and, since 2005, has served as the Director of Refugee Initiatives for Unite for Sight, an international agency dedicated to eradicating preventable blindness. She is the host and executive producer of Valda’s Place, a weekly cable television talk show, and a member of the National Speakers Association.
Ms. Ford has developed support groups, provided small and large group training, and presented or consulted in Saudi Arabia, United States Virgin Islands, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Wales, Afghanistan, Australia, and 25 U.S. states. In conjunction with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s The Heart Truth™ campaign, she founded the annual Heart and Soul Red Dress Event to raise awareness of heart disease among underserved women.
Ms. Ford has worked with Unite for Sight in refugee clinics in Africa and Asia. She developed partnerships with eye doctors and surgeons to provide free sight-restoring cataract surgery as well as thousands of pairs of eyeglasses to refugees living in camps. Ms. Ford was recognized as Unite for Sight’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2005 and its Volunteer of the Year in 2006.
Ms. Ford created a series of DVDs on cultural competency, intercultural communication, and her work with refugees from Liberia. She has an M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’s degree in nursing administration from Creighton University, and a B.S. from Winston-Salem State University.
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