#13. Chad Ford (Conflict Transformation)

Chad Ford has been living five lives simultaneously for nearly 20 years. He's been: An international conflict mediator.   A college professor. A senior consultant and facilitator for the Arbinger Institute. An executive board member for PeacePlayers. A writer, analyst and entrepreneur covering the NBA and NBA Draft for ESPN. While most people know him for his work at ESPN, being a basketball analyst and writer was actually his side-gig for most of the last two decades. Chad's peacebuilding work is what defines him. After completing a Master's degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law School in 2000, Chad was poised to begin his career as a conflict mediator and facilitator.   However, Chad sold a small internet start-up, Sportstalk.com, that he co-founded while in graduate school to ESPN right after he graduated and spent the next four years working full-time with ESPN as a senior editor and writer covering the NBA and NBA Draft. The experience of covering NBA games was a lifelong dream, but Chad yearned to do something more impactful with his conflict resolution skills. In 2005 he left his full-time work with ESPN to become the Director of the David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding at BYU-Hawaii. In Hawaii, Chad created a major and certificate program in intercultural peacebuilding, mediation and facilitation. Chad and his wife Amanda, who teaches courses in family conflict transformation and mindfulness, have worked with thousands of students from over 90 countries in the world. Chad's work has earned him Professor of the Year honors at BYU-Hawaii and made Intercultural Peacebuilding one of the most popular programs on campus. Chad's work has frequently taken him out of the classroom and into conflict zones around the world. He's made nearly 50 trips to the Middle East and has worked on numerous other conflicts around the world as both a mediator and a facilitator. Chad has served as a senior consultant, speaker and facilitator for the Arbinger Institute since 2006 — working with governments, NGOs and corporations like Nike and the US Olympic team. He's also helped Arbinger develop trainings and curriculum on conflict resolution as well as a training guide on reconciliation based on the documentary Beyond Right and Wrong. He's been able to combine his expertise on both sports and conflict by serving as an executive board member of the non-profit peacebuilding organization PeacePlayers. His work has included designing the peacebuilding curriculum used by PeacePlayers in the Middle East, training thousands of coaches, staff and participants in workshops and most recently, guiding PeacePlayers through the process of creating the Friendship Games and PeacePlayers Leadership Academy that will bring together participants from conflict areas around the world.