http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-12-29/news/bs-md-new-fire-chief-20131229_1_fire-department-fire-chief-fire-deaths
Ford holds a Ph.D. in Organization and Management from Capella University, a for-profit institution that teaches most of its classes online.
He began work in public safety in 1991 as a dispatcher in Bessemer, Ala. A year later, he became a firefighter there, rising to the rank of captain in Bessemer Fire & Rescue. From 2003 to 2007, he was a deputy fire chief in Fulton County, Ga., before becoming fire chief in Lincoln for four years.
There, Ford says, he was able to implement a number of reforms, including turning a money-losing ambulance service into a revenue-generator and implementing a plan to increase diversity in the department.
Ford was also reportedly one of three finalists to become Tallahassee's next fire chief, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
With the hire, Rawlings-Blake continued a trend of looking across the country to fill vacancies in Baltimore's most important agencies. Police Chief Anthony Batts was hired from California, while Baltimore Development Corporation chief Brenda McKenzie comes from Boston.
Firefighters said they were eager to meet Ford and learn more about him.
Firefighters union president Rick Hoffman said he's hoping Ford will beef up paramedic staffing in the agency, while the head of the black firefighters group, the Vulcan Blazers, said he'd like to see Ford increase diversity.
"I am sensitive to the fact that there are still racial issues in the department," said Henry Burris of the Vulcan Blazers. "I think it would take someone from the outside to do what needs to be done."
Campbell, who lamented that Ford is the second chief in a row from outside the agency, said he was keeping an open mind.
"I do look forward to speaking with him and working with him," he said.