Rev. Dr. Linda Silver Coley

Executive Director

Rev. Dr. Linda Silver Coley, Ph.D. leads the transformative work of the Ormond Center. Seeking innovative ways to address barriers to thriving such as poverty, oppression, injustice, marginalization, and inequality, she has organized the Ormond Center into three distinct operating divisions: Translational Research; the Academy of Teaching, Training and Learning; and Pathways Towards Impact. These three divisions are driven by a theory of change that embraces co-creation of value among academy-church and community networks through an iterative process of research, evaluation, and continuous innovation, towards creating community level impact with global reach (glocalization). The Ormond Center’s strategic intent is to operationalize global reach through publication of translational research in journals with global access. To that end, during 2023 Linda led her team in co-authoring a peer re-reviewed research article titled “Faith-based community-academic partnerships: An asset-based community development strategy for social change” which was published in Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement (Vol. 16, No. 2 December 2023).

Linda, a fourth generation ordained elder among five generations of family ministers, serves on the ministerial staff at Word of Truth Christian Fellowship in Goldsboro, NC. She has over 30 years’ experience in corporate marketing, technical brand management and brand innovation with Fortune 500 companies, and entrepreneurship. Prior to joining the Duke Divinity School community as a student in 2018, Linda was a tenured Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Marketing, Transportation, and Supply Chain at North Carolina, Agricultural & Technical State University. She now transfers business knowledge, gained from studying the effects of leadership competency on brand innovation, to study the effects of Christlike leadership competency on Christian social innovation. Her models are designed to evaluate the effects of Christian leadership at the intersection of community orientation and entrepreneurial proclivity. Before joining the academy, she was owner and CEO of Coley Marketing Management Company (CMMC). Under contract with the United States Government’s Small Business Administration, CMMC developed fact-based strategies to grow small businesses in Michigan and Ohio. Linda also co-owned both McDonalds and UPS Ohio-based franchises. She has taught at several universities, including the University of Cincinnati; the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and Miami University, Ohio.