Valerie L. Rochester has 30 years of experience providing programmatic, administrative, and technical support services in the public health and health philanthropy fields. Currently, Valerie is Chief Health Equity Officer with CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, a nationwide nonprofit that aligns communities, nonprofits, and businesses around a shared commitment to improving health outcomes where she provides strategic direction for the health equity and community engagement work. Valerie previously served as Chief Program Officer at AIDS United, a national HIV advocacy, policy, and grantmaking organization. There she guided the organization’s program, capacity building, and grantmaking portfolios, directing resources to communities most affected by the domestic HIV epidemic. She has also been Director of Programs with the Black Women’s Health Imperative, leading the programmatic responses to address racial and gender-based health inequities. Because of her commitment to addressing health inequities in communities of color, Valerie was awarded the Congressional Black Caucus Healthcare Hero Award in 2002, presented to her by former Congresswoman and Health Braintrust Chair Donna Christensen.