PPB January 2015

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INNOVATE 30 • PPB • JANUARY 2015
PPAI HALL OF FAME | Giving Back Comes Full Circle
people who have touched my life and whose lives I’ve touched.
One of the greatest rewards is to see people I’ve helped suc-
ceed. That’s what this award is all about. The people I’ve
helped have made me very proud.”
Growing Up With Golf
As a young boy, Ford worked on a golf course where he
developed his love for the game. He played golf in college
and, after graduating from the University of Texas with an eco-
nomics degree, got a job selling golf clubs and sporting goods
for Zale Corporation. Eventually he became a regional manager,
overseeing multiple stores in the Dallas area. But he grew tired
of the retail grind.
“I realized I wanted more out of life than being in retail,
where I had to work seven days a week,” Ford says. “So I got
out of the sporting goods business and I started my own com-
pany [Motford, Inc.]. At that time, I didn’t really know what
business I was in. I was selling hats, skirts, jackets, trophies and
everything else. I was in the promotional products business but
didn’t know it.”
In the early ’80s, Ford joined Waxahachie, Texas-based sup-
plier Jaffa Company as national sales manager. “I was very for-
tunate to be able to hone my skills as a supplier salesperson,”
he says. “Next thing I know, 30 years later, I’m still a supplier in
the promotional products business.”
Today, Ford serves as president of Sparks, Nevada-based
supplier Castelli, a division of Magnet, LLC (UPIC: Castelli) and
lives with his wife, Theresa Roberts, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Getting Involved
Throughout his career, Ford has held sales leadership posi-
tions with a number of industry companies including the
Martin Company, Lenox Awards, BTS Group, Eighth Floor
Promotions, J. Charles Crystalworks and Castelli, where he was
president from 1995 to 2002 before rejoining the company as
president in 2012. For more than three years, he had his own
company, Ford-Howsmon, LLC, where he provided sales and
business development consulting services to suppliers and
distributors.
During this time, he has been active on numerous PPAI
committees, councils and volunteer groups. “I’ve always looked
for different ways that I can give back to the community or the
industry for something that benefits others,” he says. “In 1985,
I started volunteering for regional associations and then on a
national level in 1986. Getting involved as an industry volun-
teer was one of the greatest turning points in my life.”
Raised in a rule-governed military home where asking lots
of questions was not encouraged, Ford began to get comfort-
able asking questions while serving on PPAI committees. “I was
able to learn that the only way to get things done is to ask
questions and that I shouldn’t be afraid to do that,” he says. “I
got to a point in my life where I could ask those questions, and
I did—I asked a lot!”
Chuck Dahlgren, president of St. Paul, Minnesota-based
supplier Crystal D, says Ford’s intense interest in the future of
the promotional products industry is obvious and contagious.
“He has the ability to step back and objectively ask the hard
questions and offer suggestions as to how the industry could
look in the future,” he adds.
Looking Ahead
Ford believes it’s important for industry professionals to
keep their eyes on the horizon. “If you look ahead, you’ll
always be a leader and you’ll always be successful,” he says. “I
try to spend time being visionary.”
True to his forward-thinking nature, Ford is a steadfast
supporter of and donor to the Promotional Products
Education Foundation (PPEF), which provides college scholar-
ships to industry professionals and their children, to build a
stronger industry future. A member of the PPEF Board of
Trustees from 2000-2004, he served as the board’s chair in
“As I learned more and more, I wanted
to share it with others who needed
advice.” —Fran Ford, CAS
With his father in the military, Ford’s family moved often
while he was growing up. Before he was in seventh grade,
he had moved eight times.