Frank Ward

Frank Ward is a Texas-based public affairs consultant and well-respected strategist with 20 years of combined experience in government, politics, and business. Frank’s professional life has taken him from the RNC to The White House, Capitol Hill to the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Texas Capitol to Public Strategies, Inc./H+K Strategies. Following his work as a Vice President for PSI/H+K, he served as Vice President of Client Services for The Mach 1 Group. After working for a global firm and then a small business start-up, coupled with a run for Austin City Council in 2018, Frank chose to go out on his own—becoming the founder and principal of Austin-based consulting firm Forward Public Affairs.

Prior to his first run for public office, Frank was appointed to serve as a Commissioner on the Parks and Recreation Board for the City of Austin, during which time he was named the Land, Facilities and Programs Committee Chairman.

Before becoming a Founding Partner of Poplar Group—where Frank oversees the Austin office and manages Texas-based strategies for multiple clients of the firm—he served as the Interim Executive Director of Communications and Director of Media Relations for the Texas Education Agency.

Frank has a long and successful record of managing the agendas and reputations of a broad range of nonprofit, trade association, corporate, and public sector clients. He advises leaders facing pressing challenges, expertly manages relationships with a wide range of media, runs important, time-sensitive issue campaigns, and designs and implements standard and crisis communications strategies on behalf of numerous interests, all with the goal of boosting and maintaining clients’ well-earned public reputations across Texas and beyond.

Frank graduated from Denison University with a B.A. in English, and The Johns Hopkins University with a M.A. in Government. A member of Denison’s Class of 2004, Frank served as the College’s student body president. Frank is a Member-at-Large of Denison’s Alumni Council, an advisory body representing the Society of the Alumni.

A member of the JoyRx Austin Leadership Council, Frank has helped to raise tens of thousands of dollars for the mission delivery of the Children’s Cancer Association, an organization that provides therapeutic music-focused pediatric cancer support services.

A two-term member of the Austin PBS Board of Directors, he currently serves as the Chair of the station’s Content Committee. Frank is one of 96 members of the Texas Lyceum Board of Directors (Class of 2022). Selected to Maverick PAC’s “Future 40” Class of 2021, for many years Frank co-chaired the Austin chapter of “the premier national network for conservative young professionals.” Active congregants of All Saints Presbyterian Church, Frank, and his wife, Marion, reside in Austin with their three children.