Del L. Ruff is the Executive Diversity and Inclusion Officer at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Mr. Ruff is an accomplished thought-leader and professional with more than 20 years of experience advocating for diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging. He has worked within organizations as an educator, building principal, district and state-level administrator, researcher, and leader with a future-forward philosophy.

Before coming to North Carolina A&T, Mr. Ruff was the senior director of workforce and education with the American Institute of Architects in Washington, D.C. In that role, he led a team focused on increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion in architecture, with emphasis on increasing exposure to historically underrepresented students in K-12, supporting the pathway to the profession for students studying architecture in higher education institutions, especially HBCUs, and fostering a more inclusive architecture profession for architects and designers.

As executive diversity and inclusion officer, Mr. Ruff’s primary responsibility is to provide strategic leadership and administrative oversight for researching, developing, implementing, and to maintain a range of successful practices for supporting and prioritizing equity, diversity and inclusiveness.