From his early years, Willie Ford unknowingly set on a path that would lead him to the helm of the National Ability Center, a program founded 40 years ago around a kitchen table in Park City by Pete Badewitz and Meeche White. From those modest beginnings, the NAC has grown into a major national resource to provide profound life-changing outdoor experiences for people of all abilities. Ford essentially grew up at Holderness School, a small private boarding school in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. His father was the dean, math teacher and football coach, and his mother coached the ski team.
“I saw what a positive impact living in a campus community dedicated to outdoor recreation can lead to,” he says. “I always at some point I’d be doing something along those lines.”
That early inspiration observing the rewarding work his mother and father undertook as teachers, coaches and mentors would become a fundamental touchstone for Ford.
After college at the University of New Hampshire where he was a two-time All-American member of the ski team (thanks, Mom), he found his way to the outdoor gear biz. First as the co-founder of Givego, a company that connects athletes with professional coaches, as well as Cake, a Scandinavian maker of premium lightweight electric motorcycles, and POC, a Swedish company known best for its iconic goggles. Thirteen years ago, POC was acquired by Utah’s own Black Diamond and Ford happily found himself in Park City.
“I’ll always be a New Englander at heart, but out here the snow is lighter and the sun is brighter,” he says of the move.
Ford always found himself drawn toward the experiences that had informed his early life. Like the High Fives Foundation, an adaptive sports organization in Truckee, Calif., where Ford was a volunteer and a board member. At High Fives he gravitated toward working with Military to the Mountains program that wounded veterans experience skiing and snowboarding.
The NAC serves more than 5,000-6,000 individuals a year in its programs. Photo courtesy of National Ability Center.
“I understand the impact that outdoor experience can deliver,” he says. “When I heard about the NAC, I always thought I would love to be a part of that organization. When the word on the street was that the CEO position was open. It hit me like a bolt of lightning.”
After an extensive search, the NAC tapped Ford for the job last summer.
“We have a big responsibility,” he says. “Helping individuals get outside their comfort zone, and leave with confidence, inspiration and self-esteem, proud of what they accomplished. That’s just part of it. So many families tell us that ‘my son or daughter felt completely invisible until they came to the NAC.’ There is so much massive potential for us, and our team finds ways to unlock these huge human hearts.”
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