William Foard
William Foard predates the slogan "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" but
its essence has been a lifelong mantra for the maverick artistic
director driven to create, invent, design, and produce.
As a young boy it was not uncommon to find him in
front of a little record player directing the likes of Grieg's Peer Gynt
Suite. That led to becoming an accomplished tenor and undisciplined guitarist/pianist performing on Honolulu's
famed Kalakaua Avenue, in college talent shows, opera productions and in
a special appearance for President Harry Truman.
He left
high school art to pursue music, but art never left him. Growing up in the shadow of
a major art gallery he
was something of a museum "brat," his presence amid Renaissance masters keeping
guards on their toes. With parents who placed a high priority on the
arts and a penchant for performance and promotion, it was a fait
accompli when at 25 he went out on his own and never looked back.
Entrepreneurship did not come magically. Foard was a business
major in college. Shortly after graduating he produced a successful series of 13 joint concert/art events
for the City of Kansas City, MO. He
also cut his teeth in the corporate world with Chrysler Corporation as a
Marketing Executive Trainee and District Sales Manager.
In 1975
he organized Belle Street Productions with artist Joan Langworthy and
was soon joined by audio producer Larry Johnson, composer Rick Carlton
and publisher Neil Stempleman. The company offered a one-stop solution
to the media needs of advertisers and institutions.
In
1980 Foard reorganized as Communication Design Associates, Inc. a full
service advertising and creative marketing agency known for high-end
graphic design. The firm pioneered the use of computers in the graphic arts.
In
1987 he founded Foard Entertainment Network, Inc. to produce and
distribute "Baseball Sunday," a coast-to-coast radio talk show he
created for syndication on 200 stations.
Media
ventures are a mainstay. Foard has served as creative marketing consultant to
The Kansas City Star and Los Angeles
Times and helped launch Brentwood Media of Los Angeles,
publishers of the "Brentwood News," "Santa Monica Sun" and
others. As a consultant for Media Viability Fund, New York University
and National Press Institute, Moscow, he created marketing plans and
designs for newspapers in Russia and Ukraine
He is known
in entertainment for event and artist promotional design including work
for Hallmark, American Gramaphone Records, Exceptional Artists, Narada Records,
Steve Martin, Jim Brickman, Paul
Winter and U.S. Fashion Design Week in Moscow, Russia.