Comments / Life Story:
Well, first, guys; what's with the list of "unable to find" people...y'all ever hear of google? I'm sitting here in a boring meeting and decided to google myself (even though it makes hair grow on my keyboard), and on about page Eleven up comes "Project Prometheus"!
Well, How-DEE!
I have a cleaned-up life story. Though, it omits the jail time, the passionate loves, the tragic losses...:
Born in Los Angeles, and raised in the mountains of Oregon; educated in both the US and Italy before graduating with a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, Kile Ozier has built a career encompassing three decades.
After college, he worked for World Campus Afloat/Semester at Sea off and between Central America, Asia and the South Pacific, arranging in-port programs for the traveling student body and as fly-ahead for these programs during the semester. Following this, he returned to Washington, D.C. as National Youth Director for President Ford in his 1976 election campaign. The campaign over, Mr. Ozier worked at the U.S. Department of State (U.S. Youth Council), directing International Conferences of young political leaders in Western Europe and the United States.
Moving to San Francisco in 1978 and going to work for Levi Strauss & Co. marked the first, most direct manifestation of Mr. Ozier's social consciousness, since spearheading the Earth Day demonstration at his high school in 1970. Founding and chairing the first home office Community Involvement Team in the history of Levi Strauss, Ozier initiated fundraising campaigns and events in support of local institutions such as San Francisco's Recreation Center for the Handicapped, evolving to involve several other San Francisco-based corporations in the process.
From Levi, Mr. Ozier spent a year as Publications Director for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce; leaving that to freelance as a writer and political consultant before returning to the corporate world as staff writer for Pacific Bell's External Affairs Division a year later. Once his talent for production and organizational skills came to the attention of the CEO, and the Mayor’s Office, Kile soon found himself being "loaned" by the company to the City of San Francisco to produce Mayor Feinstein's 1984 Inaugural.
This arrangement grew to the point that Ozier was repeatedly “assigned” to the City Hall office of Protocol to produce ceremonies such as those for the President of France, the Premier of China, and the spectacular Rotunda Reception kick-off for 10,000 as part of the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco.
Ensuing years saw Ozier producing scores of Civic ceremonies and celebrations for the Mayors of San Francisco, including the Agnos Mayoral Inaugural in 1988, several Fleet Week Celebrations (receiving a Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for "Best US Navy Event in 1989"), the visits of several Foreign Heads of State and the San Francisco-hosted NFL Super Bowl events. During this period, Mr. Ozier left the telephone company to join FM Productions for a stint before opening his own office as Ozier Production in San Francisco's Financial District.
Under the auspices of Ozier Production, Kile continued to produce civic and corporate ceremonies along with an appreciable amount of writing and industrial video production. Most significant during this time was the concept development and production of Stanford University's National Centennial Celebration Tour (1987-1990); conceiving, creating and taking a 360°, ballroom-sized replica of Stanford's most well-known feature, The Quad, to eleven cities over three years and Producing and Directing a pair of full-length musical productions as part of that context.
Concurrent with this, Mr. Ozier initiated a fundraising effort in his living room that has grown to become one of San Francisco's most significant annual AIDS Events. Recognizing its twenty-eighth anniversary in 2008, Academy of Friends (re-named from Friends of Oscar in 1990) set new standards in fundraising and themed experience production and structure that are standard procedure in many contexts, today. Completely underwritten through personal and corporate contributions and in-kind donation, the organization could guarantee that 100% of the ticket price goes directly to each year's beneficiary AIDS direct-care agencies, which change annually to respond to areas of greatest need.
This unique event continues with an integrity and screening process so sophisticated that AT&T has Academy of Friends administer its corporate AIDS contributions in Northern California.
With production values that surpass any other event of its kind, Academy of Friends has grown to become the largest annual Academy Awards event outside Los Angeles and one of the largest AIDS funding institution in Northern California.
Retiring from the Chair and Board in 1990, Mr. Ozier moved to Los Angeles to expand his work into theme parks and film while continuing to produce large-scale ceremonies. Most significant to Kile is the production of the Candle Light Vigil for 250,000 at the Lincoln Memorial for the International AIDS Memorial Quilt Display in Washington, D.C. in October of 1992.
The major project for 1993-1994 was Producer and Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for Gay Games IV at Yankee Stadium in New York City. At that time, the largest gathering of athletes of that century, surpassing even the Los Angeles or Barcelona Olympic Games in number of athletic participants.
Late 1994 and 1995 saw Kile busy developing concepts at Universal Studios Hollywood, including the writing some of the first original live show concepts for the new Islands of Adventure project in Orlando, in addition to concept development for a separate, entirely new theme park then planned for Hollywood…though, never realized.
In April of 1996, Mr. Ozier was recruited to move to Orlando and accept the position of Director of Creative Development at Universal Studios Florida.
Mr. Ozier has remained active in community and AIDS-related work, having served on the Board of Directors of the AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and as Vice-Chair of the Los Angeles Shanti Foundation.
Ozier relocated to New York in April of 1997 and went to work writing and developing theatrical projects and the development of unique and compelling, stirring spectacles.
Ozier was elected to the Board of Directors of the Themed Entertainment Association (T.E.A.) in November of 1998, and continues to serve on the Eastern Board of this international body.
In 1999, he created their Guidelines for Protocol and Ceremonies as a consultant to the international Federation of Gay Games. The document was ratified, unanimously, by this multinational body at the 1999 Annual Meeting in Berlin.
On March 23, 2000, Mayor Willie Brown proclaimed Kile Ozier Day in San Francisco, “to recognize and honor his creative vision…” and for his dedication to that community.
From early 2000 through to June of 2002, Ozier developed concept, directed and produced the “Think Again!” Touring Experience for Stanford University. This centerpiece of a $1 billion Capital Campaign for Undergraduate Education had the over-arching mission of creating “…a national network of alumni, re-connected to the University.” In leaving “rooms full of weeping millionaires” in each of the 12 Cities toured by this spectacular multi-media experience before it wrapped in June of 2002, this mission was unassailably accomplished: $1.1 billion raised.
Subsequent to the Stanford Project, Harvard Law School approached Kile and, in the Spring of 2003, he created the launch experience for that institution’s $500 million development campaign, “Setting the Standard.” Though it was a bit more daunting task to attempt to bring a roomful of lawyers to wistful tears, Ozier claims he saw at least three, wet-eyed lawyers, that night. A contextual victory.
continued....
