Rev. William Sinkford: president, Unitarian Universalist Assoc.

The Rev. William G. Sinkford, elected as the seventh president of the Unitarian Universalist Association on June 23, 2001, is the first African American president of this historically white denomination. The Universalist church played an important role in the founding and creation of Tufts University in 1852.

Sinkford served as Director for Congregational, District and Extension Services (CDE) at the Unitarian Universalist Association and managed the largest departmental budget in the Association, supervising both in-house and field staff.

In his role as Director of CDE, Sinkford served as a member of the Association's executive staff, guiding the work of a variety of Association task forces and committees, including Fulfilling the Promise and the Safe Congregation Team.

He is the co-editor of Creating Safe Congregations: Toward an Ethic of Right Relations, with the Rev. Patricia Hoertdoerfer. Sinkford's commitment to liberal religion dates back to high school, when he was an active member of First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati, Ohio.

He was named one of the first U.S. Presidential Scholars as a high school senior and was president of the national UU youth organization.

While an undergraduate at Harvard University, he advised youth groups at UU churches in Lexington, MA, and Boston; served as Assistant Director of Rowe Camp; and directed the Harvard-Roxbury Summer Project. He graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1968 and spent the following year in Greece as a Michael Clark Rockefeller Fellow.

Before entering the UU ministry, Sinkford worked in the field of marketing. He held management positions with Gillette (Boston, MA); Avon Products (New York); Johnson Products (Chicago, IL); and Revlon (New York) between 1970 and 1980. During this time, he received the Black Achievers in Industry Award from the Harlem YMCA.

From 1981 until 1992, he ran his own business, Sinkford Restorations, Inc. He was also active as a volunteer with community action groups and in not-for-profit housing development. Sinkford heard the call to ministry after returning to Cincinnati, where he was an active lay leader in his home congregation.

He also served on the UU Urban Concerns and Ministry Committee and as an officer of the African American Unitarian Universalist Ministry. Toward the end of his theological education at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA, Sinkford joined the staff of the UUA.

He earned his M.Div. in 1995, and was fellowshipped as a community minister and ordained by his home congregation in the same year. Sinkford lives in Cambridge, MA.

Biography courtesy of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

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