GAMA welcomes John Ward as its new Executive Director. Don welcomes John to the Inside Track.

John holds a Master¹s degree in public administration with an emphasis in fiscal and policy management. His bachelor¹s degree is in criminology, with both degrees from Ohio University.

Professionally, Ward has extensive experience in the military and in state government. Ward is a retired Army officer with over 23 years of combined service in the military police and engineer corps. His military experience has provided him opportunities to deploy to Europe, Central America, Korea, and the Persian Gulf for the first Gulf War.

Ward also has over 20 years of government service in the criminal justice field, most recently in the juvenile system as the state of Ohio's Bureau Chief of Parole and then Bureau Chief of Community Facilities. In this last role, he supervised 12 small correctional facilities and managed revenue generation for Ohio¹s juvenile corrections agency, as well as working with 12 governing boards in a variety of endeavors. He enhanced volunteer programs, developed data and outcome measures, and was able to assist them in operationalizing both economic and procedural efficiencies. He still serves on a national level working and consulting in the criminal justice arena.

Ward is also a small business owner, running his own martial arts studio for more than 16 years. His part-time business/hobby gives him first-hand knowledge of the challenges facing small businesses.

In his personal life, Ward is blessed with a loving and supportive wife Angela, their young son Johnathon, and his teenage daughter Nikki, who is with them part-time. They live in the Columbus, Ohio metro area.