Mary Katherine Ford (born 1955) is the former CEO of the modeling agency

Ford Models Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford. History 20th century Eileen and Jerry began the bu ...

, Inc. from 1995 until 2007.Fordmodels.com
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Life and career

Ford is the daughter of

Eileen Ford Eileen Cecile Ford (née Otte; March 25, 1922 – July 9, 2014) was an American modeling agency executive. Along with her husband Gerard W. Ford, Gerard "Jerry" Ford, she co-founded Ford Models in 1946, which emerged as one of the earliest and m ...

(''née'' Ottensoser) and Gerard William "Jerry" Ford, who started the agency in 1946. She holds a BA from

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

and an MBA from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Ford worked for Strategic Planning Associates as a management consultant and TeleRep as a television sales representative. Ford is active in the fight against human trafficking, and she is CEO of a nonprofit organization
Freedom For All

Ford Models

Ford joined her parents' company in 1980. She took over as head in 1995 and moved operations from the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

. She also expanded the company's reach by setting up offices in 10 other cities, including Chicago,

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Paris, and in Brazil and Argentina. Still one of the largest modeling agencies in the world, they represent more than 2,500 clients, but smaller boutique agencies have grown in popularity. In recent years, Ford has also have lost some of their most notable models, including

Karen Elson Karen Jill Elson (born 15 January 1979) is an English model, singer, and songwriter. Early life and education Elson was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and attended North Chadderton School as a child. She has a fraternal twin sister, film ...

, Maggie Rizer and

Erin O'Connor Erin O'Connor (born 9 February 1978) is a British high-fashion model. Early life O'Connor was born and brought up in Brownhills, West Midlands, where she attended Brownhills Community School. She was brought up Catholic and her father is f ...

, who were 'poached' by other agencies. Nonetheless, Ford's network of models include

Sophie Dahl Sophie Dahl (born Sophie Holloway on 15 September 1977) is an English author and former fashion model. Her first novel, ''The Man with the Dancing Eyes'', was published in 2003 followed by ''Playing With the Grown-ups'' in 2007. In 2009, she w ...

, Camilla Finn and

Chanel Iman Chanel Iman Robinson (formerly Shepard; born December 1, 1990) is an American model who has worked as a Victoria's Secret Angel. '' Vogue Paris'' declared her as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s. Early life Iman was born in Atlanta, Georg ...

. Others Ford has represented include

Kim Basinger Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a ...

Adriana Lima Adriana Lima (; born 12 June 1981) is a Brazilian model. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 1999 to 2018. She was the longest-running model and named "the most valuable Victoria's Secret Angel" in 2017. She is also known as a spokesmodel fo ...

, Mia Person,

Rachel Hunter Rachel Hunter (born 8 September 1969) is a New Zealand model, actress, and the host of Imagine Television, Imagination Television's ''Rachel Hunter's Tour of Beauty''. She has appeared on several magazine covers, including ''Vogue (magazine), ...

and

Christie Brinkley Christie Lee Brinkley (née Hudson; born February 2, 1954) is an American model. Brinkley appeared on an unprecedented three consecutive covers of ''Sports Illustrated'' Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Swimsuit Issues in 1979, 1980, and 1981 ...

. In 2007, John Caplan became Ford Models' Chief Executive Officer, and she remained on the board of directors.

Family

Ford has a younger sister (Lacey), an older sister (Jamie) and an older brother (Bill). Ford married hotelier

André Balazs André Tomas Balazs (born January 31, 1957) is an American businessman and hotelier. He is president and chief executive officer of André Balazs Properties, a portfolio of hotels across the United States and residences in New York, especially i ...

on November 16, 1985; They have two daughters. Ford lives in

. CityFile.com

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Katie Sarah Lawrence College alumni Columbia Business School alumni 1955 births Living people American women chief executives Place of birth missing (living people) American chief executives of fashion industry companies People from SoHo, Manhattan 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople