JAMES BUFORD

James Buford has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis since 1985. Mr. Buford chairs the
St. Louis Connectcare Board and serves on the Executive Board of the
St. Louis Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Board of Downtown
St. Louis Partnership, Fair St. Louis, and the St. Louis Science Center.
He is Past Chairman and member of the Grand Center Arts District Board.
On the state level, Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan appointed Mr. Buford as secretary of the St. Louis County Board of Elections in 1993. In 2005, Mayor Francis Slay appointed Buford to the St. Louis Public School Board. His numerous awards and honors include the 2005 Mentor St. Louis Award, 1999 Whitney M. Young Award from the Boy Scouts, the 1995 St. Louis Community
College Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Brotherhood-Sisterhood Award
presented by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Mr. Buford holds a B.A. in Human Services Administration from Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA. He holds honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degrees from Harris-Stowe State College, in 1993; and from the University of Missouri of St. Louis, in 1995; and Webster University, in 2000.