Ward is the former Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections. Ward was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp as the Commissioner for the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2019. Ward began his career with the Department of Corrections in 1992 at Scott State Prison as a Correctional Officer and eventually rose to Chief of Staff in 2016.

Ward serves on the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council and is one of 28 Commissioners nationally on the American Correctional Association for the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections. He is an active member of the Southern States Correctional Association, the Georgia Professional Association of Community Supervision, the American Correctional Association, and the Georgia Prison Warden’s Association. He holds a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice from Savannah State University and a master’s in Public Administration from Columbus State University.