Sam Ford

Sam Ford is Director of Cultural Intelligence for Simon & Schuster, a ViacomCBS company. He also consults and manages projects with leadership teams in journalism, media/entertainment, academia, civic engagement, and marketing/communication. He is a research affiliate with MIT’s Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing and co-author of the 2013 book Spreadable Media, with Henry Jenkins and Joshua Green. Previously, he served as VP, Innovation & Engagement, at Univision/Fusion Media Group, as director at strategic communications firm Peppercomm, and as co-founder and project manager of the MIT Convergence Culture Consortium.

In addition to this Tow Center project, Sam is working on various initiatives on the Future of Work in Kentucky with the MIT Open Documentary Lab, the University of Southern California Annenberg School’s Civic Paths team, and other partners. He has been a contributor to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Inc., and has also written for Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, Advertising Age, Huffington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Nieman Lab, and various other publications. He began his career in rural journalism and earned a 2006 Kentucky Press Association award for feature writing.