Becky Barnes Campbell (left) and Lauren Waldrip Ward.
It’s been a busy month for Lauren Waldrip Ward.
On Aug. 9, she was named the new executive director of the Arkansas Rice Foundation, and on Wednesday she announced the debut of her new public affairs and public relations firm, Campbell Ward LLC, a partnership with Becky Barnes Campbell.
Both women are close associates of Ben Noble, Ward’s predecessor at the Arkansas Rice Foundation, who is starting Sept. 1 as the new vice president of marketing and strategy for Riceland Foods Inc. of Stuttgart.
Campbell was director of operations at Noble’s public affairs firm, Noble Strategies of Little Rock, where Ward was director of public affairs. Ward also served as director of client services at Noble’s PR partnership, Aarch Communications, from which Campbell Ward expects to draw many clients.
“A lot of this is continuing with the things we had been doing,” said Ward, who lives with her husband, Arkansas Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward, in west Little Rock. “The first goal is to make the transition as seamless as possible and to take care of the clients we’re retaining.”
A native of Moro in Lee County, Lauren Ward was raised on a rice, soybean and corn farm and has an undergraduate degree in marketing and public relations from the University of Arkansas, as well as an MBA from the UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business in Fayetteville. She was already helping Noble as a key staffer for the Rice Federation, which represents all aspects of the state rice industry, a $6 billion-a-year economic driver that provides more than 25,000 jobs across the state.
Campbell Ward will occupy the same offices that Noble Strategies used at 1020 West Third St. in Little Rock.
“The hard date for this transition is Sept. 1,” Ward told Arkansas Business. “That’s when Ben starts his job at Riceland and when our contract with the Rice Federation takes effect. So for the next week or so we’ll continue to operate as Noble Strategies, making a smooth transition.”
Ward will specialize in media relations, promotions, trade association management, event planning and marketing, as well as activities for state and national political action committees. Campbell, who grew up in Bryant but now lives in North Little Rock, will focus on operations. She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and a volunteer with the Downtown Little Rock Partnership and the Arkansas Foodbank.
“As a lifelong Arkansan, I have always promoted this state I love,” Campbell said in a news release from the firm. “The opportunity to continue doing so professionally under my own name is something for which I will be ever grateful. Lauren and I created Campbell Ward to support agriculture and other key sectors of our economy so that more of the world will learn what we’ve known about Arkansas all our lives.”
Campbell also served as chief of staff to former Arkansas first lady Ginger Beebe, handling scheduling, community liaison efforts and media events.
Ward said each partner’s strengths complement the other’s. “We balance each other out, and we’re both thrilled to start this venture.”
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