Chairperson Emerita

Anne Ford is a woman of many accomplishments, but the one she's most proud of is her role as mother of her son, Alessandro, and her daughter, Allegra, and, most recently, her new role as grandmother to Eleanor and Olivia.

Anne Ford served as Chairman of the Board of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) from 1989 to 2001. During her term as Chair, Mrs. Ford led the reorganization and broad expansion of NCLD, including establishing a presence in Washington, D.C., and organizing educational summits on learning disabilities in several regions of the United States.

She was appointed to the Department of Health and Human Services Commission on Childhood Disabilities, as the representative for learning disabilities and was a member of the New York State Board of Regents Select Committee on Disabilities.

Mrs. Ford has received many honors for her work in the field of learning disabilities, including the Lizette H. Sarnoff Award for Volunteer Service from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Most recently, Lesley University conferred upon her an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters for advocacy for people with learning disabilities.

She co-authored with John-Richard Thompson a popular and inspirational book called Laughing Allegra about her experiences as the mother of a daughter with a learning disability. Over the past year she has toured the country and appeared as a keynote speaker at numerous conferences and corporations including J.P. Morgan Chase and Ford Motor Company. Laughing Allegra was a finalist in the category of First Book by the "Books for A Better Life" Awards. The paperback version book was released in May, 2004. She also wrote On Their Own: Creating an Independent Future for Your Adult Child with Learning Disabilities and ADHD.