Larry D. Woodard

Larry D Woodard (born January 31, 1960) is an American businessman, columnist, writer, and founder and CEO of Graham Stanley Advertising. He is known for his published contributions as a weekly columnist for ABC News, as the author of the book Point Me in the Right Direction: Daily Devotions For Busy People and for his role in the Oprah Car Giveaway, a promotion he helped orchestrate during which Oprah Winfrey gave away a new car (270) to every member of her studio audience. Woodard has worked on the advertising accounts for Kodak, Comcast, General Motors, Motorola, Western Union, Mars, and other blue-chip companies.
== Early life and career ==
Woodard was born on January 31, 1960, in Casablanca, Morocco. He was born in a military family that moved frequently; Woodard was raised in North Africa, the United States, Germany and Italy. He received a bachelor arts degree in political science and modern foreign languages from Syracuse University in 1982. 
== Career ==
Woodard started his career by working for various Upstate New York City advertising agencies. In May 1994, he became vice president and group account director of UniWorld Group. In August 2000, he joined Vigilante Advertising as its President and CEO and left the company in 2010 to form his agency, Graham Stanley Advertising. The agency is named after his father, Graham Stanley, who passed away in 2008.
In February 2009, Woodard became the NY Council of the American Association of Advertising Agencies chairman. He has worked on several blue-chip advertising accounts, including General Motors, Motorola, Heineken, Sprint, Western Union, Comcast, GlaxoSmithKline, Kodak, Mars, Earthlink, and the Snapple|Snapple Beverage Group.
He served on the board of visitors of the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics of Syracuse University and has served on the corporate board of International Speedway Corporation and YMCA's board of directors of Central and Northern Westchester. He has been a director of the board of the V Foundation for Cancer Research since 2013.
In 2000, Woodard joined Vigilante Advertising, a Publicis Group agency, as its President and CEO. His meeting with Gayle King led to negotiations between Vigilante client and Oprah Winfrey and resulted in the Oprah Car Giveaway, a promotion in which the Oprah Show gave a new car to each member the studio audience (176).
Woodard ranked #29 on Fast Company Magazine|Fast Company Magazines Fast 50 list of 2004. As CEO of Vigilante, the firm won the O'Toole Award for Multicultural Advertising Agency of the Year two times. Vigilante also won a Gold Effie for advertising effectiveness and The Cannes Gold Lion for the Oprah Car Giveaway.
Woodard has written more than 5o columns for ABC News. In addition, Woodard has appeared as an industry expert of many news shows, including Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight|World News Tonight, CNBC and BBC America.
Woodard is the author of Point Me in the Right Direction: Daily Devotions For Busy People, published in July 2015, and co-authored Advertising as a Branding Tool: Industry Leader on Catching the Consumer's Attention, Creating Economic and Emotional Value, and Developing Resonating Messages (Inside the Minds), published in 2008. 
 
Category:American businessmen
Category:American writers
Category:1960 births