Ladawna Parham is the Executive Director for the American Contract Bridge League Educational Foundation. At the ACBLEF she is working to build longevity of the mindsport, a safe space for youth to engage in socialization and cognitive development, and collaboration among likeminded entities, players, and researchers across North America and global partners. Some of her newest projects at the ACBLEF include developing a movie, creating a hybrid crossover role-playing game, and establishing a corporate engagement and teambuilding model. Parham received her undergraduate degree in communications from Middle Tennessee State University and earned a Master of Education in Nonprofit Management from Belmont University. She began her career as a deadline, spot news and features print journalist in middle and east Tennessee, for which she received numerous accolades including the Society of Professional Journalists Award of Mention for Deadline/Spot News Coverage. She left the journalism field to pursue her passion for supporting nonprofit and community efforts to aid those in crisis.
Parham served as the Director of Development and Marketing for the Knoxville Legal Aid Society/Legal Aid of East Tennessee and later as the Marketing and Development Specialist for the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. She then served for nine years as the director for the Coalition for Healthy Aging, a program of the former Center for Community Health Solutions at Vanderbilt. Her work in staff and volunteer leadership during her tenure at CHA garnered the organization numerous awards and recognitions.
Most recently, Parham served as the CEO of Nourish Food Bank where over the past 10 years she grew the organization from a three-room building serving a small geographic center to a multi-site, multi-million-dollar organization with a fleet of vehicles, extensive partnership model, and delivery program to meet the evolving needs of a dynamic and rapidly growing community. During her tenure, Nourish has won or been naMore...