Richard Fordyce Joins Osborn Barr Paramore as Business Growth Director

Former U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency Administrator Contributes to OBP’s Strong Agriculture Industry Expertise.

Osborn Barr Paramore continues to build upon its long-standing history and strong expertise in agriculture industry marketing communications by welcoming Richard Fordyce as business growth director.

Fordyce joins OBP from his most recent role as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency administrator from May 2018 to January 2021. In that role, he provided leadership for FSA and its mission to support agricultural production nationwide.

“Richard’s deep understanding and passion for rural America make him a great fit to keep supporting our agriculture industry focus and expertise,” said Rhonda Ries, president of OBP. “He has a passion for identifying compelling rural American themes and translating those into stories a wide variety of audiences can understand, to help improve understanding and increase broad support for American agriculture.”

In this new position, Fordyce will lead business development growth for the agency in the agriculture and rural sectors. His experience in agriculture leadership roles at the state, regional and national levels complements the agency’s long history of expertise in agriculture and rural America.

“As a fourth-generation soybean, corn and beef cattle farmer from Missouri, I’m thrilled to focus on helping enhance marketing communications opportunities for OBP’s strong client roster across many facets of agriculture,” said Fordyce. “I look forward to lending my knowledge and expertise to help create positive, actionable outcomes about agricultural issues, topics and trends. These are exciting times for agriculture’s bright future, and I look forward to helping shape marketing communications to support the great work American farmers do to feed our nation and help feed the world.”

Fordyce will focus on strategic business development with current and new clients. In addition, he will represent the agency in roles with various local, regional and national agriculture industry organizations.

OBP is an independent and women-owned full-service marketing communications agency. For 33 years, OBP has partnered with leading brands across a wide range of verticals including agriculture, food and tourism in the noble pursuit of possibility. Headquartered in St. Louis with locations in Nashville and Kansas City, the award-winning OBP team helps brands and clients realize success as they define it through a variety of services including advertising, branding and communication strategy, design and packaging, experiential, media planning and buying, public relations, research and marketing intelligence, social and content, and UX and interactive development. Notable client partners include Bayer Crop Science, LinkedIn, Missouri Division of Tourism, Morton Buildings, Nutrien Ag Solutions and the United Soybean Board. Learn more at OBPagency.com.