MEMBER SPOTLIGHT | AUGUST 2003

Anne Canfield: Honorary AWC Member
with a Career to Emulate

By Linda Brozanic

“Imagine where you would like to be (in your career) and then actively seek it” is the advice of Anne Canfield, current director of communications at the Kansas City Art Institute and honorary AWC member.

Her diversified career, which ranges from newsroom work to public relations to communications, is the perfect example of her own advice. Anne, a Kansas City native, started her remarkable journey at Stanford University in California, where she received a BA in English. She then worked towards a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Michigan. She always thought when she graduated she would be an elementary school teacher. But as she began her practice teaching, she knew in her heart that this was not the vocation she wanted to pursue.

In the fall of 1968, she returned to Kansas City with a degree in English, but no idea what she wanted to do with it. She was “very lucky to be in the right place at the right time” when she was hired to work in the newsroom of the Kansas City Star newspaper. With no more experience than having been the editor of the high school newspaper, she walked into the newsroom and basically learned “on the job” writing about weddings. Here Anne discovered “the rush” of seeing her byline on a story.

After two years, she worked her way to the city desk, which she loved. Anne gave her notice at the Star to attend Stanford University for a master’s degree in communications. Around the same time, fell in love and subsequently married one of her fellow co-workers from the city desk. This changed her graduate school plans, so Anne was left to find other employment.

She found another “fabulous experience” working as the news editor at Sun Publications, a weekly newspaper in the Kansas City suburbs. At the Sun for the next three years, she “did it all” — writing articles, layout, working in the composing room and taking photos. After that she opted to stay at home with her first daughter. She did 10 years of freelance writing for magazines and substituted for people on vacation and maternity leave at the Star. During that time, she also honed her public relations skills by doing publicity for the annual Gem and Mineral Show.

When she decided it was time to return to full-time employment, she took a job at Brewer Advertising, gaining a year of client services experience from 1980 to 1981. This was followed by a job with the KC Chamber’s Economic Development Council, where she enjoyed working with the “movers and shakers” of KC such as Morton Sosland, owner of Sosland Publishing Company, and Charlie Kimball, the first director of the Midwest Research Institute.

In 1984, she joined Fleishman-Hillard, an employee-owned public relations firm. Anne worked at Fleishman for 16 years, starting as account supervisor and working her way up to senior vice president and partner until the firm was bought by Omni Communications, a huge international public relations company. At that point she decided to leave and try her hand at nonprofit work. She had a 2 1/2-year stint at the Kauffman Foundation as Director of Communications from 1999 to 2002. A change in leadership there when Lou Smith, CEO, retired in January 2002, sent Anne looking for another job.

Lady Luck shone down on Anne again when she obtained the position of Director of Marketing (since changed to Director of Communications) for the Kansas City Art Institute. She loves working at the KCAI, an art college for 500 to 600 of the most talented artists in the nation.

On the personal side, Anne loves to garden. She also spends time with her two daughters, Beth, who works retail at Lane Bryant, and Sarah, who is a rowing coach at Smith College. Not too surprisingly, she is an avid reader and belongs to a book club. Two of her recent book recommendations are The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan and Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach, a reporter for the Washington Post chronicling her journalistic adventures.

Anne is delighted to be one of the honorary members of AWC. Although she hasn’t had much time to participate actively, she sees AWC as “a built-in network of friends” where one can “cast a wide net” to ask for what you want in your career and connect the “right dots” in order to manifest it.