PPB January 2015

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JANUARY 2015 • PPB • 31
PPAI HALL OF FAME | Giving Back Comes Full Circle
2003 and as past chair in 2004.
Ford’s hands-on approach was
instrumental in getting the 2014
PPEF Glen Holt Scholarship Golf
Invitational off the ground. He
used his connections to organize
and recruit supplier participants to
the event, which raised more than
$14,000 for the foundation.
Ford believes in the power of
mentorship, and it’s a role he has
filled often and willingly. “As I
learned more and more, I wanted
to share it with others who needed
advice,” Ford says. “I wanted peo-
ple to think of me as the guy who took the time to help people
as a payback for all of the mentoring I was so graciously given
earlier in my career.”
Given his longtime service as a mentor, what advice does
Ford have for those who are just starting out in the promotional
products industry?
“It’s not an easy business and it takes time to learn,” Ford
says. “Look for a mentor you want to emulate. Remember that
this is an industry of patience. If you pay your dues, you will
succeed. I have seen so many people who have done that and
they have become successful.”
Fran Fans
Ford believes one of the keys to achiev-
ing this success is to put yourself in your
customers’ shoes. “It’s simple really, you
just have to think like your customer,” he
says. “If you’re a supplier, you have to think
the way the distributor salesperson thinks.
What are the things they think and the
questions they face? If you’re a distributor,
you’ve got to think about the customer, the
end buyer. What is it that you could do to
make their life easier? How can you make
them shine?”
Amber George, managing director of
Austin, Texas-based distributor Boundless
Network, says Ford has been a significant influence on her
career. “And I know I am one of many,” she adds. “The advice
he has given me along the course of my career is invaluable. I
am a huge ‘Fran fan.’”
Based on the sheer number of nominations Ford received,
there are many “Fran fans” in the industry—and the feeling is
mutual for Ford, whose passion for the business is apparent.
“It goes without saying that Fran
is probably the biggest fan of our
industry,” says Kris Robinson, execu-
tive vice president and CSO of Los
Angeles, California-based distributor
PromoShop. “Our industry has never
been about him but about us and
how he can help individuals thrive, whether on the supplier side
or the distributor side.”
Fueled By Friendships
Ford’s goal has always been more about growing his num-
ber of friends rather than fans.
“His integrity runs through all facets of his life,” says Toby
Cowan, president/creative director of Sebastopol, California-
based Performance Design Group. “Fran is someone who
defines friend and colleague.”
Above all, Ford prizes his friendships. He says he learned to
appreciate friendships as a result of his mili-
tary upbringing, which required his family to
move constantly, making it hard to make and
keep good friends.
“Before I was in the seventh grade, I had
moved eight times,” Ford recalls. “Growing
up in the military, you learn that you’re only
going to know the friends you meet for a
year or three years.
Then, either you’re going to move on or
they’re going to move on. Friendships
became so valuable to me.”
When Ford reached his 20s and discov-
ered the promotional products industry, he
realized he could finally do what he had
always wanted to do—form true friendships
and long-lasting ties.
“All I ever knew was military life, but here I was in a
whole new world and I knew I could make friends that I could
keep for life,” Ford says. “So I went out of my way to make
friends. I’m proud of the fact that I have a lot of friends. I
cherish my family and friends more than anything in the
whole world.”
Today, Ford has put down
strong roots in Phoenix, Arizona,
with his wife, Theresa Roberts.
Ford’s involvement in the indus-
try goes back 38 years. Here, he
joins friends at the Specialty
Advertising Association
International Dallas Show (fore-
runner to The PPAI Expo) in the
late 1980s.