The Accord Network announced this week that the organization’s former CEO, Chad Hayward, has passed away from lung cancer. He was 50.
Hayward served as CEO of Accord Network for over 17 years.
“Chad is remembered as a faithful servant and kind soul,” said Accord Board Chair Nell Becker Sweeden. “He had the gift of seeing others and cultivating opportunities for them to thrive during his long tenure at Accord. I was one such beneficiary of Chad’s leadership, and what a gift to be able to work alongside him. Though I mourn the loss of a wonderful human being gone too soon, I’m filled with gratitude and hope because of how he brought so many together and his faithfulness on the journey.”
The Accord Network is a group of more than 100 Christian organizations involved in relief and development work. Accord brings its member organizations together to provide training and support, as well as create platforms for collaboration and knowledge sharing across their respective industries.
In the 1990s, Hayward got his start in the nonprofit world doing marketing for organizations in Oklahoma and Colorado. In 2001, he moved to Washington, D.C. to work as communications director for Rep. Jim Ryun for two years.
Following his tenure with Ryun, he became a senior advisor with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Hayward was part of three major foreign aid initiatives with USAID under the George W. Bush Administration: Establishing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and the Faith-Based and Community Initiative.
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“All three were among the great foreign aid accomplishments of a generation,” said Randy Tift, former USAID chief acquisition and assistance policy officer. “The most important might have been mobilizing the faith community to partner with the US Government in ways that improved the aid delivery of both. That is because the Faith-Based Initiative was critical to the success of PEPFAR, and caused the US Government to reckon seriously with the indispensable role of faith communities everywhere and in all successful relief and development endeavors.”
After working with USAID, Hayward eschewed opportunities to work as a government contractor and decided, instead, to join the Accord Network.
Tift said Hayward “turned Accord into a thriving 120+ member coalition. He revived Accord by serving sacrificially, mastering the hidden craft of community building, and befriending more humanitarians than we will ever know.”
The organization recently announced that its board of directors has selected Michael Cerna as the new CEO of the Accord Network, and he will officially start at the organization on March 1.
Main photo: Chad Hayward
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