A copywriter and creative director by trade – and a strategist by inclination – Brian started the firm in late 1979 to specialize in corporate, public policy and crisis communications. He enjoys realizing opportunities for Gard’s clients, as well as protecting and defending their ability to operate in their best interests.
A graduate and now life trustee of Willamette University, who also holds a master’s in literature from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, Brian also appreciates and enjoys the operational and financial side of the business. He believes you can do great work, but if you can’t do it profitably and if you fail to maintain proper reserves of people, cash and determination, then you won’t do that great work for very long. Having led the firm for nearly four decades, Brian is now the firm’s senior partner.
From a long list of highlights after 40-plus years in the business, Brian points to Gard’s three decades of work in transportation safety as among the best it has done. In 1990, the firm managed the campaign that passed the adult safety belt measure in Oregon. It had been expected to fail and has since been credited with saving more than 300 lives every year. That accomplishment is what Brian considers the most meaningful to date.
Brian and his wife, Rhonda, have five children and, to date, four grandchildren. Brian likes to read, Rhonda likes to be with her grandchildren, and they both like to spend time in Manzanita.