Heifer Board of Directors

Ron McLean Chesapeake, Virginia

Ron is currently serving as Chair of the Heifer International Foundation and as such, is also a representative to the Heifer Project International Board. He is no stranger to the HPI Board, having previously served two three-year terms, a part of which, he also served as Chair of the HPI Board.

Ron is the current Senior Pastor of the Christian Church Uniting, a federated church of the United Church of Christ and the Church of the Brethren, located in Virginia Beach, VA. Additionally, he is Chaplain at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center. Ordained in 1990, he served the Massachusetts Conference United Church of Christ as an Associate Conference Minister for a little less than a decade before accepting a call to local church ministry. He has held the position of pastor at churches in Massachusetts, North Carolina and Virginia, and he is a former President and Executive Director of the Black Ecumenical Commission of Massachusetts.

Ron graduated from Andover Newton Theological School and holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was a Contract Officer for special target populations with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

A former volunteer with the American Peace Corps, Ron served as staff to a Health and Sanitation project that evolved from his work as a volunteer, which brought 55 new volunteers to India. He has traveled extensively throughout Haiti, Nicaragua and the Middle East. He is a graduate of the National Coalition Building Institute and the Harvard Negotiation Project, and he has directed a community mediation center.

Most recently, Ron has completed the federal and state licensing requirements to become a registered representative within the financial services industry. He is appointed with World Financial Group, World Group Securities, based in Duluth, Georgia, a subsidiary of AEGON International with offices in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Ron has three children: Sonya, an accountant for a union pension fund in Washington D.C.; Derrick, who manages a retail transportation firm; and Oronde, who manages existing and start-up restaurants.