George F. Ward

George Ward, World Vision U.S. Senior Vice President, International Programs.

"George Ward collaborates with the international Partnership of World Vision to facilitate the overseas allocation of resources from government grants, corporate donated goods, and individual donors. He joined World Vision in 2005 after a distinguished career in public service, including serving as U.S. Ambassador to Namibia and promoting conflict resolution at the U.S. Institute for Peace."

He joined the U.S. Institute for Peace "in 1999 after a thirty-year career in the Foreign Service, which concluded with his appointment as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Namibia from 1996 to 1999. He has since returned to government service twice for special assignments. In October 2000, he chaired the U.S. delegation to the Conference on the Human Dimension of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe. From February to June 2003, he served as coordinator for humanitarian assistance in Iraq. As ambassador in Namibia, he managed a successful humanitarian demining program and initiated a campaign against gender violence. From 1992 to 1996, he was principal deputy assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, helping formulate U.S. policy on peace operations and managing the policy process on UN political questions.

"As deputy chief of mission in Germany from 1989 to 1992, Ward played a senior role in the negotiations that led to German unification. He received the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award for his service in Germany. During earlier Foreign Service assignments in Germany, Italy, and Washington, D.C., he worked extensively on European security questions. Prior to his Foreign Service career, Ward was an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving in the United States and Vietnam. He holds a B.A. in history from the University of Rochester and an M.P.A. with an emphasis on systems analysis from Harvard University."

While at the USIP his Project Focus was "The Role of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in the Peace Process of the 1990s".

"George Ward joined World Vision as Senior Vice President for International Programs in June 2005.

"Previously, he had been Vice President and Director of the Professional Training Program at the United States Institute of Peace, a federally funded non-governmental institution focused on the peaceful settlement of violent international conflicts. In 2005, he served concurrently as executive director of a Congressionally-mandated task force on reform of the United Nations. In 2003, he was coordinator for humanitarian assistance in Iraq."

"From 1989 to 1992, he was deputy chief of the U.S. mission in Bonn, where he handled much of the detailed negotiations on German reunification and then spent four years in Washington as the principal deputy assistant secretary of State for international organization affairs. In 1996, Ward was appointed U.S. ambassador to Namibia, where he managed a humanitarian program to remove land mines and initiated a campaign to reduce violence against women...

"Daniel Serwer, director of the institute's Balkans Initiative, first met Ward 25 years ago, when both men worked at the U.S. Embassy in Italy. More recently, they've done extensive work together in the former Yugoslavia. Like Hentges, Serwer praises Ward's meticulousness and creativity. During the Kosovo war, the U.S. Army called in the Institute of Peace to train the Serbs and Albanians."

His wife is Peggy Ward.