Sam Ford Email & Phone Number

Bowling Green, OH, US

Innovation Engine is an innovation consultancy I co-founded with Vijay Kamineni and Amanda Havard. When organizations are building something new or tackling a novel challenge, Innovation Engine helps them get from idea to action through identifying patterns and building scalable models. Innovation Engine's "Repeatable Patterns and Models" (RPM) offering.

Suspenders of Disbelief is a storytelling and engagement consultancy founded in December 2023 by Dr. Henry Jenkins, Dr. Sangita Shresthova, and me. The founding partners have collaborated in various ways since the mid-2000s and in various combinations–co-authoring books like Spreadable Media and Popular Culture and Civic Imagination; launching and running.

I work with organizations on innovation approaches, audience engagement, cultural intelligence, and media/storytelling strategies.I have provided these services to a wide range of organizations, including Paramount/Simon & Schuster, Univision/Fusion Media Group, MIT, Peppercomm, WNYC/New York Public Radio, WD-40, Lowe’s/Orchard Supply Hardware, the.

As executive director of AccelerateKY, I work on various initiatives to connect, inform, and inspire others in support of Kentucky’s capacity for innovation. The 2021 launch of this organization builds on work conducted from 2017-2021 in partnership with the MIT Open Documentary Lab, the University of Southern California Annenberg School’s Civic.

Bowling Green, Kentucky, US

I manage communications and branding work for the Metals Innovation Initiative, a nonprofit focused on bringing metals companies and ecosystem partners together to make Kentucky the destination for metals innovation. The organization began as a whitepaper created by AccelerateKY and launched in September 2022 through the support of eight founding metals.

Bowling Green, Kentucky, US

As an Innovation and Culture Fellow with the Western Kentucky University Innovation Campus, I work on new initiatives to help support the development of jobs in media and creative industries in the region; support those working remotely in creative industries jobs in the region; and drive strategies innovative regional programs around the future of work in.

Cambridge, MA, US

I helped work with and support research initiatives with the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium and the related MIT Futures of Entertainment conference through 2012. Since that time, conducting ongoing research for academic publication as a research affiliate with the department, and, since 2017, working on initiatives with the MIT Open Documentary Lab.

Cambridge, MA, US

I worked with graduate students, consulting researchers, and corporate partners to explore issues relating to the collision of extant media and new media forms. My research focused on multiple media platforms, transmedia storytelling, product placement, fan communities, etc. My duties included updating our blog, editing the C3 Weekly Update newsletter.

Cambridge, MA, US

I wrote white papers on issues surrounding social aspects of media consumption and the nature of fan communities, served as editor for the C3 Weekly Update, managed the C3 public Weblog, advised corporate partners on issues related to the consortium's work, served as faculty liaison for our consulting faculty associated with the consortium, helped organize.

New York, US

With Dr. Andrea Wenzel and other collaborators, I am co-leading projects on how political polarization and urban-rural divisions are impacting the lives of residents on a local level, and on interventions for strengthening the sustainability of local journalism. This work has focused on understanding how these issues have impacted the lives of people in.

New York, New York, US

I co-led an analyst team focused on bringing new approaches to identifying cultural patterns and applying insights from that work to decision-making around the acquisition and marketing of books, working as part of our start-up imprint, Tiller Press, and in assistance of other teams around the publishing company. Also, oversaw a marketing team for Tiller.

Bowling Green, KY, US

I have taught courses for the WKU Department of Communication, as well as occasionally in partnership with the university's Honors College. Courses taught include Introduction to Popular Culture; Special Topics: Soap Operas; Pro Wrestling and Popular Culture; International Public Relations; and The Futures of Communication: The Future of Work in Kentucky.

Miami, Florida, US

In this role, I worked across Fusion Media Group and with our parent company, Univision, to help guide how our teams experiment with new approaches to high-quality storytelling; cultivate participation across our various platforms; and find innovative new ways to reach and build relationships with audiences key to the mission of our brands or particular.

Miami, Florida, US

I consulted with Univision's Fusion Media Group on its vision and strategies for supporting innovation and audience engagement, as well as providing guidance to particular special projects. This included designing plans for the company's Center for Innovation & Engagement.

New York, NY, US

In this role, I worked with companies to better listen to, empathize with, understand, and serve their customers and other key audiences through communications and storytelling. This included consulting with clients on overall approach, helping build communications and marketing strategies, facilitating brainstorming, listening to cultural patterns, and.

New York, NY, US

In this position, I guided overall strategy for the online presence of our clients, consulted directly with clients and our client teams, led workshops, and wrote and spoke regularly on issues surrounding digital culture, including in academic publications.

New York, NY, US

In this position, I co-led the strategy of the company's emerging digital communication practice, developed a new Digital Network Assessment offering, and consulted with clients on new approaches for understanding their customers' communication practices in a changing digital communication landscape, and in light of patterns in the broader culture.

New York, NY, US

I consulted with the strategic communications firm on its approach to understanding its clients' customers ways of communicating in an ever-changing digital communication landscape and on larger shifts in the culture in and around this changing media environment.

I have written commentary and news stories for "The Ohio County Times-News," "The Ohio County Messenger," and "The Greenville Leader-News." In January 2007, I won the KPA award for best feature story in a weekly newspaper for the size of the "Leader-News" for a story about a heart transplant patient and the friendship he developed with a chaplain intern.

I was a freelance writer for the 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 versions of the Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky Magazine.

Bowling Green, KY, US

I planned the First Amendment First conference, co-taught class on the cultural history of pro wrestling with Dr. Pam Johnson, and helped plan for a textbook on First Amendment case studies, as well as various other research projects.

Sm, Comparative Media Studies

B.A., English (Writing), News/Editorial Journalism, Communication Studies, Mass Comm, Film Studies

Education record