ULI Names Ralph Boyd as CEO for the Americas

We are delighted to announce that Ralph Boyd, an outstanding individual who is currently the chief executive officer (CEO) of the American Red Cross’s Massachusetts region, has accepted our offer to serve as ULI’s CEO for the Americas. He will join the Institute’s executive team on July 10.

Boyd has an extraordinary skill set that makes him perfectly suited for this role: expertise in managing complex organizations that serve constituents with a wide variety of interests and needs; and the ability to quickly and precisely identify what must be accomplished to deliver high value to constituents and maximize mission advancement. He brings to ULI nonprofit CEO experience and membership-based organizational experience, familiarity with a decentralized organizational structure, financial leadership, gravitas, and the ability to act both strategically and tactically.

Boyd has a thorough understanding of ULI as a member-driven organization, and his management skills will help greatly to increase member engagement and impact in the Americas region. He will work closely with the global volunteer and staff leadership to ensure that ULI delivers an optimal member experience in the Americas region, and that the Americas work complements the Institute’s work in the other regions, all with the goal of reinforcing ULI as the world’s foremost authority on excellence in community building.

Boyd’s “people-first” leadership style has served him well at three very different organizations. At the American Red Cross, where Boyd has served since 2014, he was responsible for overseeing institutional advancement as well as diverse and recurring revenue channels and operations, including the training of volunteers to provide disaster preparation and recovery services to nearly 7 million people in more than 350 communities throughout the Massachusetts region.

From 2012 to 2013, Boyd was interim president and CEO of the Center City Public Charter Schools in Washington, D.C., an organization he cofounded in 2008. There, he was responsible for the oversight of academic programs, finance, overall operations, and community outreach functions of a charter management organization operating six excellent inner-city public charter schools.

Prior to that, Boyd held several positions at Freddie Mac, including service as the executive vice president for public affairs, general counsel, and corporate secretary from 2004 to 2012; and from 2005 to 2012, he served as corporate executive vice president for community relations and chairman of the Freddie Mac Foundation (the largest corporate philanthropy in the D.C. area). After 2006, his service at the foundation was expanded to include the positions of president and CEO. At the foundation, he was responsible for deploying and investing up to $30 million annually in charitable, educational, and community-based organizations, and he was responsible for overseeing an additional $30 million in annual corporate expenditures in connection with payments to nonprofit organizations as part of Freddie Mac’s corporate philanthropy and business operations, particularly in the multifamily and community development sectors.

Boyd’s experience as a nonprofit CEO follows a distinguished legal career spanning 20 years, culminating in service as an assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice from 2001 through 2003. During that time, he twice presented the U.S. case before a Geneva-based United Nations human rights treaty compliance commission, a treaty compliance body on which he subsequently served as a U.S. representative from 2004 to 2007. Also while at the Justice Department, Boyd prosecuted hate crimes following 9/11; and he was the lead prosecutor on cases of alleged voting improprieties in Florida filed after the 2000 presidential election.

Thanks to the depth of his career, Boyd will provide a fresh perspective on how best to lead the Americas region forward. He brings a great dedication to the Institute’s mission and methods, a creative and strategic mind-set, and a proven ability to motivate talented people to do their best. Please join us in welcoming Ralph Boyd to the ULI Americas team.