Chad Ford is an Assistant Professor at Brigham Young University – Hawaii (BYUH) and is Director over the McKay Center and is known for his study of conflict resolution with an emphasis on large group ethnic and religious conflict and for his sports journalism with ESPN.

Early life

Ford was born in Kansas City, MO in 1971. He holds a B.A. in history at Brigham Young University (1995), an M.S. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University (2000), and concurrently earned a J.D.in International Law from Georgetown University and then served as a researcher for the United Nations in Northern Ireland.

Career

Before joining the faculty of Brigham Young University in 2005, Ford co-founded sportsTALK.com with Jason Peery in 1996 which was sold to ESPN in 2001 and was renamed Insider. Ford still contributes to the subscription’s content. He’s known for his "insider information" and breaking news on NBA stories, especially regarding the draft, trade rumors, and international basketball. By 2005, more than 1 million paying Insider subscribers read his daily reports for ESPN. Also, he has covered the NBA in Asia, Europe, and Africa for ESPN.

As a mediator and facilitator, Ford works for several projects around the world, including in the Middle East with PeacePlayers International. Additionally, he served as the Managing Director of Global Peacebuilding (2007), teaches at BYUH while directing the university’s McKay Center. The center functions as a cross-cultural peacebuilding laboratory for the education of students, faculty, staff and community members. The theoretical and practical tools learned in the center enable the sponsorship of community building, cultural leadership opportunities and projects throughout the world. Ford has traveled extensively, having lived in Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 and Washington D.C., and having covered the NBA in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. He also did research for the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

.

External links

• Chad Ford on ESPN.com (subscription required to read his columns)
• BYUH faculty page