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Robert "Chip" HarrodRobert "Chip" Harrod is President & CEO of BRIDGES for a Just Community, Inc. (formerly the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Cincinnati), a human relations organization that brings people together to achieve inclusion, equity and justice for all. Established as a regional office of the NCCJ in 1944, BRIDGES serves the eight-county Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area with an annual operating budget of $1.9 million.
Harrod is in his second term as chief executive officer of the local NCCJ (now BRIDGES) after serving a brief tenure as NCCJ's National President & CEO in New York City, during which time he successfully directed the national organization though a major re-structuring and downsizing to help preserve its long-term viability. He holds the distinction of being the first regional executive director to be promoted to NCCJ's top executive position in the organization's 78-year history.
An attorney, Harrod has directed the local BRIDGES office for over two decades. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Louisville NCCJ office. While in Cincinnati Harrod directed the NCCJ's efforts to improve police-citizen relations in the aftermath of Cincinnati's civil unrest of 2001. In 1994 he originated the concept and was founding President of the $114 million National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which opened to the public in August of 2004 as one of our country’s new “museums of conscience.”
In November of 2004, Harrod organized and led a broad coalition of religious and civic groups that repealed Cincinnati's decade old anti-gay city charter amendment ("Article XII"), the only gay fairness ballot measure to pass any where in the country. He has been a leader in fostering inter-religious understanding and is currently directing a Jewish-Muslim-Christian “trialogue” of unprecedented conversations.
In 1993, under his leadership, the NCCJ was awarded the contract by Major League Baseball to conduct cultural diversity training for The Cincinnati Reds Inc., the first professional sports franchise to undergo such training.
In 1995, Mr. Harrod developed the “CommUnity: Different People. Common Ground” program, that featured facilitated dialogues in the home and workplace aimed at improving race and intergroup relations. In 1999, President Clinton’s National Initiative on Race selected CommUnity as one of America’s “promising practices.”
In addition to his tenure with NCCJ, Harrod served from 1979-1983 as the Program Director and Coordinator of Police-Community Relations for the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission. In this capacity, he investigated and reported to City Council on hate crimes and mediated police-citizen disputes.
Presently, Harrod is co-chairing the Inclusion Support Team for the Agenda 360 initiative of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce and is the lead consultant to the Inclusion Task Force of Northern Kentucky's Vision 2015. In April of 2008, he was appointed to the Ohio Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Mr. Harrod has received numerous awards for his civic contributions.
- Harris K. & Alice F. Weston Avodah Award, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (1994)
- Distinguished Leadership Award, Leadership Cincinnati Alumni Association (1998)
- Olympic civilian torchbearer, 19th Olympic Winter Games (2002)
- Diversity Award, One Human Family (2005)
- Key to the City, City of Tulsa OK (2005)
- International Bridge Award, NuWay Foundation (2007)
- Diversity Award, Cincinnati League of United Latin American Citizens - LULAC (2007)
- I-CAIR Justice Award, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio Chapter (2008)
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Mr. Harrod holds an undergraduate degree in History from Franklin College (Indiana), a masters degree in American History from Xavier University (Ohio), and a juris doctor degree from Salmon P. Chase College of Law (Northern Kentucky). He is a licensed attorney.
A native of Lima, Ohio, Chip is married to Teresa "Terri" Dave and they reside in Cincinnati. They have three daughters: Amy, married to attorney Scott Rubenstein, who are the parents of Lilly, Phoebe and Maggie; and twins Joanna and Allison, who are recent graduates of and lacrosse standouts at The College of Wooster (Ohio), both now residing in Cleveland. Chip's hobbies include distance running (New York City, Columbus and Cincinnati marathons), poetry, antiques, and Ohio State football. |
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