Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William E. Cloud has an extensive academic and professional background in International Relations and U.S. foreign policy. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. His undergraduate studies included a one-year fellowship at Dag Hammarskjold College in Columbia, Maryland. He earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., before he received an LL.M degree in International and Comparative Law from the George Washington University School of Law in 1980.
During his thirty years as a practicing attorney in the Washington, D.C., he was a staff attorney in the International Section of the U.S. Department of Labor and served as Special Assistant to the International Tax Counsel in the U.S. Department of Treasury. After entering private practice, Mr. Cloud initially maintained a law office in Harare, Zimbabwe for several years in the 1980’s where he advised the governments of Zimbabwe and Lesotho. He thereafter conducted a civil practice in Washington, D.C., before he retired in 2006.
Mr. Cloud has a passion for education. From 1991 to 1995, he was a volunteer Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Morris Brown College. He traveled from his home in Largo, Maryland to Atlanta once a week to teach the classes at his own expense. In recognition for his unselfish service to the Morris Brown community, in 1995 he was voted Alumni of the year. Mr. Cloud resumed teaching at his alma mater in August, 2015.
Mr. Cloud published his first book Deconstructing the News – Don’t Believe the Hype, in November, 2014. His new book on U.S. foreign policy toward Haiti is due to be published in the Summer of 2016.
Mr. Cloud is a licensed pilot and an avid boater.
He and his wife, Carole Cloud, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in January, 2016. They have two biological children, one beloved foster child and five grandchildren.