George F. Ward Jr. was a Foreign Service officer for thirty years, from 1969-1999. Since leaving the Service, he has remained engaged on international issues. From 1999-2005, he was Vice President and Director of the Professional Training Program at the United States Institute of Peace. In 2003, Ward was detailed to the Department of Defense and served in Iraq as coordinator for humanitarian assistance. From 2005-2011, he was Senior Vice President for International Programs at World Vision, a large international humanitarian agency. He was responsible for the design and management of development and relief programs in over 80 countries. After retiring from World Vision, Ward accepted an appointment at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) to coordinate the Africa Program there. In May 2019, Ward transitioned to adjunct status at IDA.

In his final Foreign Service assignment, Ward was ambassador to Namibia from 1996-1999. There, he led a program that resulted in the elimination of the threat of land mines and unexploded ordnance. As acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations from 1992-1996, he managed U.S. policies on the United Nations and on peace operations. As deputy chief of mission in Germany from 1989 to 1992, Ward played a senior role in the negotiations that led to German unification. In earlier assignments in Germany, Italy, and Washington, he specialized in political-military, security, and arms control questions.

Prior to his Foreign Service career, Ward was a counterintelligence officer in the Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve, serving in the United States and Vietnam and reaching the rank of Major. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Rochester and holds an M.P.A., with concentration in systems analysis, from Harvard University.