Bill Hall will retire from Hall Family Foundation after fifty years at Hallmark
Bill Hall, the longtime president of the Hall Family Foundation, will retire next year, Hallmark Cards announced Monday.
Hall, who is unrelated to the Hall family that founded and controls Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards, has been at the company for 51 years and has led the foundation for the last 37 years.
“As president of the Hall Family Foundation, Bill has done an extraordinary job of bringing to life the vision of my mother and father, Hallmark’s founder J.C. Hall,” said Don Hall Sr. in a statement. “Bill will leave a significant mark on the Kansas City community through his leadership and, more notably through his dedicated service to our city and its people.”
At the foundation, Bill Hall oversaw philanthropic efforts in the arts, education, neighborhood development, health and social services. He also became a major voice against the economic border war between Kansas and Missouri. The foundation criticized the practice of using taxpayer incentives to lure companies back and forth across the state line with little regional economic development to show for it.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson celebrated a historic truce in August that sought to end that practice.
“We never accomplished anything significant by ourselves … it was always a partnership with other donors, elected officials, volunteers and not-for-profit leaders,” Bill Hall said in the statement. “Recent efforts to end the Economic Border War reflect that cooperation.”
The foundation board will begin a search for a new chief early next year.
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 5:28 PM.
