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BIOGRAPHY:  Rev. Natalie P. Alford

The Reverend Dr. Natalie P. Alford is the only child, born in Newark, NJ, to Lawrence and the late Christeen Inez Ellison Alford. Her formative years placed her in Covington, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Newark and East Orange, New Jersey. She comes from a family that displayed their confession of Christianity in their daily living with affiliation in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). In 1976, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Management Sciences from Rutgers University, New Jersey.

Reverend Dr. Alford's professional journey is impressive. She has held positions in Prudential Insurance Company's group insurance product in New Jersey and in AT&T Long Lines, second level management, high-risk, high-reward Management Development Program. After divestiture she was recruited by the St. Louis, Missouri based Boise Cascade Consumer Products Division as the Assistant to the Manufacturing Manager. She conducted research that focused on poor managerial female retention. After one year she was promoted to the Administrative Manager for Boise Cascade's largest facility in Orlando, Florida. A merger occurred with Boise Cascade, and Dr. Alford was recruited to fill the Director of Information Services Administration position in the MIS Department for Tupperware Home Parties World Headquarters, Orlando, Florida.

Reverend Dr. Alford began her ministry in 1988, left the corporate environment, and in 1989 enrolled in the Harvard University Divinity School to begin her academic, theological education. While pursing her degree, she was a Director, Summer Camp Enrichment Program, for the St. Matthew AME Church, and Director of an After School Enrichment Program and Elders Minister at Charles Street AME Church in Roxbury, MA. She was ordained an Itinerant Deacon in 1991. After graduating in 1992, she was awarded a President's Administrative Fellowship and was assigned to The Divinity School. She coordinated student programs for the Pan African community, developed programs that bridged the gap between the Office of the Dean and the student community, and provided pastoral presence for the school community. In September 1992, she was ordained an Itinerant Elder, the highest ordination level in the AME Church.

In 1993, after completing the President's Administrative Fellowship, Dr. Alford was recruited to work as the Program Manager for the National Resource Center for the Development of Ethical Leadership from the Black Church Tradition at Colgate Rochester Divinity School/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary, Rochester, New York. In December 1994, she was promoted to the position of Director of Program Initiatives. Upon arriving in Rochester, she affiliated with Baber AME Church, became the Assistant to the Pastor, in all capacities: teaching, preaching, developing workshops and counseling both youth and adults. She designed the Sister-to-Sister Ministry for women and girls.

In February 1996, she accepted the Vice President for Program Operations position at the Urban League of Rochester, New York, Inc. In August 1997 she was promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations.

Dr. Alford is an active Lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a public service sorority. In August 1997, she was appointed to the position of Regional Associate Chaplain for the Eastern Region for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., which encompasses over 150 undergraduate and graduate chapters.

Dr. Alford is an educator and has held many adjunct positions teaching Legal, Ethical, and Crisis Issues in Counseling, Counselor Education, Pastoral Care and Counseling, Loss and Grief, Family and Group Counseling, and Religious Studies and Philosophy at Monroe Community College, University of Rochester, and Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, New York.

In addition to her profit, not-for-profit, and academic experience, Dr. Alford has held a number of senior level pastoral charges. In November 1995 and 1996, Reverend Alford received her first and second Senior Pastoral charge at St. James AME Church in Utica, New York. In May 1998 and 1999, she received her third and fourth appointment at Bethel AME Church in Lackawanna, NY. She was also appointed a member to the AME Church, Western New York Annual Conference Board of Examiners responsible for training new ministers. In September 1998, Reverend Alford accepted a theological faculty position at The Aquinas Institute of Rochester, New York. From May 2001 to 2003, Reverend Alford received her fifth to eighth pastoral charge as the senior pastor-teacher and first female at Agape AME Church, Buffalo, New York.

In October 1999, from a national search, Reverend Dr. Alford was selected as the Chief Executive Officer for the Girl Scouts of Genesee Valley, Inc. Under her leadership the Council served five diverse, historic and vibrant counties in upstate New York: Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Orleans and Wyoming counties. She was instrumental in creating non-traditional Girl Scout collaboration with existing community based organizations and promoted Girl Scouting opportunities cross culturally for "Every Girl, Everywhere."

Reverend Dr. Alford graduated in May 2003, from the University of Rochester, in the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development with a Doctorate of Education in Counseling and Human Development. Her dissertation is titled Bearing Witness: Inner-city Youth Exposed to Chronic Community Violence.

Reverend Dr. Alford is the recipient of many prestigious awards. The students, faculty, and administration at The Aquinas Institute of Rochester, New York renamed the St. Monica Club in her honor. This student program is a cultural diversity club, now known as The Natalie Alford Diversity Society. In August 2002, at the International Achievement Awards Banquet, during the Daughters of Elks 100^th Anniversary, Reverend Alford received the Emma V. Kelly Award, named after the founder and Supreme Mother of the Daughters of the Improved Benevolent Protective Orders of Elks of the World.

Reverend Dr. Alford is listed in the African American Who's Who: African American Past and Present, Greater Rochester Area, The New Millennium Edition, Norex Publications, Rochester, New York, 1998. She has published several articles and is the author of "Divine Counselor" published in Sister to Sister: devotions for and from African American Women (Editor, Suzan Johnson Cook, Judson Press, Valley Forge, PA 1995.)