Ron Washington was elected to the Covington Board of Commissioners in 2020 and re-elected in 2022, becoming the highest vote-getter in the election, which led to his role as Mayor Pro Tem. He received the Covington Education Foundation Person of the Year Award in 2023 and currently serves as a board member for the Gateway College Foundation and the NKY AD District. He is also a member of the Holmes High TEAM Foundation and has served as a board member for Parish Kitchen. Additionally, he is actively involved in various boards and committees for the City of Covington and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Ron came to Covington as a newborn to live with his foster mother, Anna Washington. He was adopted by Ms. Washington about five years later and grew up in the Washington family’s 1860s two-story Italianate house on West Sixth Street in Covington’s Old Town/Mutter Gottes neighborhood.
A proud product of Covington Independent Public Schools, Ron attended from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating from Holmes High School in 1986. He maintains a close relationship with Covington schools and regularly volunteers his time to help students, serving as the “voice” of the Lady Bulldogs basketball program by announcing all of the team’s home games.
Ron is a retired law enforcement officer who served in Northern Kentucky and was the first African-American officer in Florence. He graduated from the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Police Academy in Richmond, Ky., and the FBI National Academy at Quantico, Va. He served as Chief Deputy in the Kenton County Sheriff’s Office for five years. Although retired, Ron’s rank of “colonel” still makes him the highest-ranking Black police officer to have ever worked in Northern Kentucky. He remains an active member of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #20.
After retiring from police work, Ron became a pioneer in the fight against heroin and other opiate addiction, founding one of the largest medication-assisted treatment centers in Kentucky, which has helped thousands of individuals achieve recovery.