John Ford

Head of Programming
NPACT

John Ford is general manager of the trade organization NPACT, established in June 2017 upon the merging of the Non-Fiction Producers Association (NPA) and PactUS, the two major trade organizations formed to serve the producers of nonfiction entertainment content. With 99 member companies, NPACT members collectively produce the vast majority of all non-fiction content for US broadcast, cable television and digital platforms. Prior to NPACT, Ford was the general manager of the NPA.

He served as president and GM of Discovery Channel from 2007 through the end of 2009. He also served as president and general manager of Discovery’s Military Channel and Discovery Times Channel, whose conversion to Investigation Discovery (ID) he initiated.

Ford was EVP, Programming and Production for the National Geographic Channel from 2003-07. Prior to that he worked at Discovery Communications for 13 years, re-launching and heading TLC, launching Discovery Health Channel, and heading all content for Discovery Networks US.

In January 2015, Ford and a team of partners launched Justice Network, a digital multicast network devoted to true-crime programming, where Ford also remains the head of programming.

Ford also established John Ford Media, LLC in 2011, and served as head of creative at the short-form content advisory SyncSense, whose clients included TNT, ABC, NGC and Travel Channel. Ford Media's clients have included WE tv, Travel Channel, RLTV and NGC, as well as several non-fiction production companies.

Under his leadership, Ford’s channels earned numerous primetime and news/documentary Emmy awards, and two Peabody Awards. As a network executive, he has garnered hundreds of production credits as executive producer and executive in charge of production.

Speaking on: Pressure Points: Making the Model Work,View from the Corner Office