Ballard Partners is global public affairs firm with offices on multiple continents, but its roots lie in Florida. Along with being founded in the Sunshine State, Ballard Partners maintains eight Sunshine State locations staffed by experienced government relations consultants who regularly exceed the expectations of their clients.
Ballard Partners’ connections to Florida are also seen in the philanthropy of its founder and president, Brian Ballard. Since 2016, Brian Ballard and his wife, Kathryn, have supported Florida State University (FSU), an institution located in the same city where he established Ballard Partners in 1998. In addition, Kathryn Ballard is an alumna of FSU and serves on the university’s Board of Trustees.
Fighting Food Insecurity
The Ballards’ most recent gift to the Tallahassee-based university was announced in early January 2026, when Florida Politics reported the couple had donated $1 million to support FSU’s Food for Thought Pantry. The gift is the largest ever to the school’s Division of Student Affairs.
The donation comes at a time when food insecurity is on the rise across college campuses. According to the American College Health Association, close to a third of US-based college students experience food insecurity. FSU has witnessed a similar growing need on its campus. In 2025, the Food for Thought Pantry was accessed by students in excess of 22,000 times, a more than 50% increase from the previous year.
The Ballards’ gift will enable FSU to expand the pantry so it can better serve students. “[Their] generosity will make a lasting impact, helping us address the issue of student food insecurity and ensuring that our students have the resources they need to thrive academically and personally,” says FSU president Richard McCullough.
Along with operating the pantry, Food for Thought maintains distribution events and Supplemental Nutrition Access Program (SNAP) workshops for both undergraduate and graduate students. “Our vision is to champion support for a state-of-the-art market where Florida State University students can confidently collect provisions as they pursue their degrees,” says Brian Ballard.
Funding Music Education
In 2020, Ballard Partners supported FSU by endowing a new scholarship for high-achieving students in the FSU College of Music.
The scholarship is named for Gregory Turbeville, a valued Ballard Partners staff member who died in 2020 at the age of 49. A former staffer for Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Speaker of the House John Thrasher, Turbeville was known professionally for his expertise in public policy, but those close to him knew he had a passion for music. Today, through the scholarship, FSU students receive the financial support they need to pursue their musical studies.
Supporting Students’ Entrepreneurial Ambitions
Kathryn and Brian Ballard’s record of charitable giving has also included providing a new home for the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship and Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship. Named for the late automotive entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim Moran, the institutions are part of FSU’s efforts to establish itself as an entrepreneurial university.
The physical centerpiece of that effort is a three-story, 19,000-square-foot building in downtown Tallahassee. The Ballards’ 2016 donation of the $1.1 million building, which previously housed the Guaranty National Bank, was inspired by the couple’s desire to further the academic mission of the university. In opening the “first interdisciplinary entrepreneurship school of its kind in the nation,” FSU was able to give students a “world-class education in entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Sally McRorie, FSU’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
In addition, the building has helped FSU to become more visible in downtown Tallahassee. “Because of the Ballards’ incredible generosity, the university is able to establish its presence in a highly prominent location in the heart of Tallahassee,” said Kevin Graham, executive director of the FSU Real Estate Foundation.
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