Dr. Sandi Curd’s interest in leadership began through participation in Leadership-Tri County, the leadership development initiative serving three Southeastern Counties in Appalachian Kentucky. This interest resulted in her research “Collaborative Leadership’s Role in Appalachia.” Curd is the Promise Zone Coordinator, created when Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation was named America’s first rural Promise Zone. In 2022, the Biden Administration recognized this partnership as a round-one pilot in the Rural Partner Network called the Kentucky Highlands Community Network. Curd’s work as Coordinator provides a relationship with eight counties’ local governments and leaders in education, healthcare, economic development, broadband, substance abuse, agriculture, housing, and downtown revitalization. Curd also serves as the National Coalition of Promise Zones convenor, bringing all 22 zones together to share best practices.
Curd founded the Upper Cumberland Community Foundation and serves on the boards of The Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky, The Red Bird Settlement School, The East Kentucky Leadership Foundation, and The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. She is one of twenty national leaders representing southeast Kentucky on the National Association of Counties (NACo) Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities’ (BRECC) The Coal Communities Commitment Coalition, serving with the Judge Executives of Harlan and Webster Counties.
Curd is a thirty-year First Baptist Church Corbin member, teaching an adult Sunday School class. Her husband, Bryan, is a physician working in the Emergency Department at Baptist Health Corbin. They enjoy movies, books, and their two dogs: Doc Holiday, Big Nose Kate, and quarter horse Bo. They reside on a farm in Whitley County, Kentucky.