Josh Ford is the CEO of Destinations by Design, an employee-owned, full-service destination management and event and wedding production firm in Las Vegas.
Q: What are you reading?
A: My background is in physics and electrical engineering so I tend to gravitate toward technical writing. I’ve just started reading Stephen Hawking’s “Brief Answers to the Big Questions.” The last book I read before that was “A Random Walk Down Wall Street.”
Q: What is your favorite restaurant?
A: There are so many great places to eat in Las Vegas that it’s very hard to pick one favorite, but my family and I tend to go to places that have a lot of menu variety since I like Indian and they like Thai food. One of our favorite local spots is Honey Salt in Summerlin because their menu has a lot of delicious options.
Q: How do you decompress after a long week?
A: I don’t necessarily need to decompress, but I spend my free time with my family. I coach three volleyball teams that my daughters are on, so spending time with 6- to 10 years-old kids helps me put things into perspective. I also am an avid hockey fan and have season tickets to the Vegas Golden Knights games. It’s awesome to watch them and this city rally around the team.
Q: What is the biggest challenge facing Southern Nevada?
A: Without question it is education. Every student deserves an education that can open the door to their dreams. The Las Vegas Valley needs to accept this challenge and use every resource available to accomplish the goal of an education that fits the needs of each student. I am committed to our educational challenges and am fortunate enough to be one of the founders and facilitators of Equipo Academy, a college preparatory public school for middle and high school students in East Las Vegas. Since opening our doors in 2015, we now serve over 700 students in grades 6 through 12. Being part of Equipo Academy is one of my proudest accomplishments and am honored to say that in June of 2018, Equipo graduated its first class of seniors with 100 percent acceptance to four-year colleges.
