Joseph B. Pettiford, Jr.

Joseph B. Pettiford, Jr., Vice President, Human Resources

Joseph B. Pettiford, Jr. is vice president, human resources at National Industries for the Blind (NIB), where he provides leadership, vision, and strategic direction for the organization’s human resource function in support of NIB’s mission and strategic direction in the areas of talent management, learning and development, organizational development, performance management, compensation, and employee support services. He serves as the chief architect of human resource policies and practices across the organization, fostering a healthy, vibrant, and equitable work environment.

Mr. Pettiford has served in various human resource executive roles in education and nonprofit settings and private and publicly traded companies leading mergers and acquisitions, compensation studies, and the implementation of performance and learning management systems. Prior to joining NIB, Mr. Pettiford served as associate vice president of human resources at Howard Community College, a 2019 winner of the national Malcolm Baldrige Award of Excellence. He has been active in writing and speaking on the national scene advocating for the use of technology in education and employing HR Agile practices, which create customer-centric human resource functions for organizations and their employees. Since 2006, Pettiford has served as an adjunct professor in higher education at various universities where he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in HR, business, and labor relations. Honors have included winning Teacher of the Year, Teacher of the Quarter, and numerous Provost Awards of recognition.

An alumnus of the University System of Maryland, Pettiford possesses advanced degrees in business (MBA) and human resources (MS) and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR®) through the HR Certification Institute (HRCI); a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP); an American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA) Professional Human Capital Leader in Education (pHCLE); and a PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP®). He is also Scrum Fundamentals Certified (SFC™); Scrum Master Certified (SMC®) through Scrum.org; a Certified Scrum Master (CSM®); and a Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO®) through the Scrum Alliance. Mr. Pettiford has also completed post-graduate training in strategic leadership and Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining through Cornell University’s ILR school.