The Chautauqua Lake Association has announced the appointment of John Ford to its board of directors effective immediately. In this role, Mr. Ford will be actively involved with the CLA’s primary purpose to protect, restore, and preserve the beauty and cleanliness of Chautauqua Lake.
John married fourth generation Chautauquan, Kathryn Arnold, in 1969 and has been a regular visitor to Chautauqua Lake since that time. He has three children and four grandchildren living in New York City, Los Angeles, and Madison, WI.
After attending secondary school in Ohio and receiving his BA degree from Yale University in 1967, John went on to earn an MS degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1969 and an MPA from Harvard University in 1981.
John has extensive experience in program direction and political reporting as well as executive and human resource management from the U.S. Department of State. As a Foreign Service Officer, John achieved the rank of Minister-Counselor (Major General equivalent in armed service grades) over a 33-year career. He directed two embassies as Charge d’Affaires, supervised and mentored countless colleagues, and catalyzed organizational change. In overseas assignments, he served in Vietnam, Bonn, Moscow, Cairo, London, Minsk, and Nassau. During that time he attained working fluency in the German, Russian, Vietnamese, and French languages. John also won eight performance awards.
In his personal life, Mr. Ford also managed (and subsequently sold) a niche family chocolate business whose products were featured for many years at the Chautauqua Institution bookstore. He is a certified life and executive coach and has served on boards for the Lyford Cay Foundation, Humane Society in Nassau, Bahamas, the Overlee Community Association, and a local civic association in his hometown of Arlington, VA. He is currently a columnist and reporter for the Chautauqua Daily newspaper in the Chautauqua Institution.
“We look forward to the knowledge John will bring to our board as we continue to re-evaluate our general operations and organizational structure,” said Doug Conroe, executive director. “In addition to his wisdom and experience, John has the motivation to help the CLA preserve the beauty and usefulness of Chautauqua Lake,” said Conroe. The CLA board of directors is an all-volunteer board. Each member helps the organization in all phases of operation and lake maintenance.
