Louis R. Preston, Jr., M.Div.

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Born a second generation preachers kid in New York City , he has learned to have love and compassion for all people. At seven years old he overheard adults speaking of social prejudice which prompted him to silently pray that God would let him teach people to love each other, with the end result eventually being that he is currently the Diversity Officer for all eight campuses at Florida Hospital (FH).

History:

• Integrated high school ( Garden State Academy ) — 1 st black male student
• Integrated college ( Columbia Union College ) — 1 st black freshman male in dorm.
• Graduate School ( Andrews University ) — initiated creation of a department for foreign students.
• Pastored SDA & Congregational churches concurrently for two years.
• Mission service, 10 years in Britain and four years in Africa , melding cultures and encouraging unity.
• Integrated Church administrative offices (Potomac Conference) — 1st black employee.

Since coming to FH in 2003, he has played a major role in redefining the Diversity program. Some of his accomplishments include: restructuring the Diversity Committee, seeking permission from the American Hospital Association (AHA) to customize their Accountability Diversity Tool for the FH Culture (an AHA first), assisting in the design of the AHA-inspired Diversity Scorecard process, and initiating the first-ever Florida Hospital Diversity Awareness event at Florida Hospital SDA Church. He has developed seventeen diversity awareness/management courses for FH. Since his implementation of new Diversity strategies and training, Florida Hospital 's CO2 Gallup Score has risen from 3.78 in 2003 to 4.2 in 2008. His heart-felt, passionate desire is to see FH become a global pacesetter in faith-based health care, while all employees at all levels “succeed” in their personal merits.

His idea of fun and recreation is singing, restoring vintage cars, delivering sermons and Bible studies, and being with and talking to his family members. He is also on the Board of Directors at Patmos SDA Church and plays an active role as Coordinator of the Men's Ministries. He is married to Dr. Janice Preston, Chair of the Department of Nursing at Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences. They have four children: Lauri, Assistant Director for Learning Resources at Columbia Union College (CUC); Louis III, English Teacher at Thurgood Marshall Charter School , Washington , DC, and English Instructor for CUC; Leonard, Computer Analyst for IBM; LaJoy, Forensic Psychology Instructor at CUC, and Crisis Intervention Counselor for Prince George 's County. They also have one daughter-in-law and three lovely granddaughters.