William E. Ward


William E. "Kip" Ward is a former United States Army four-star general who served as Commander, United States Africa Command from October 1, 2007 to March 8, 2011. Prior to that, Ward served as Deputy Commander, United States European Command. After he left Africa Command, Ward reverted to his permanent rank of major general and served as a special assistant to the army's Vice Chief of Staff after the Department of Defense concluded he had misused taxpayer money. Ward then retired with the rank of lieutenant general in November 2012.

Education

Ward holds a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Morgan State University. While at Morgan State he was a member of the National Society of Pershing Rifles. His military education includes the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, United States Army Command and General Staff College, and United States Army War College.

Military service

Ward was commissioned into the infantry in 1971. His military service includes overseas tours in Korea, Egypt, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, two tours in Germany, and a wide variety of assignments in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. He relinquished command of Africa Command to General Carter F. Ham.

Career highlights

While a retirement ceremony was held in April 2011, Ward remained on active duty, pending a special Army investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense. The investigation ran 17 months and ended with a ruling by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Unnamed "defense officials said Ward is facing numerous allegations that he spent several hundreds of thousands of dollars allowing unauthorized people, including family members, to fly on government planes, and spent excessive amounts of money on hotel rooms, transportation and other expenses when he traveled as head of Africa Command". In a Pentagon report, Ward spent $129,000 of taxpayer money on an 11-day trip with an entourage of 13 military and civilian personnel.

Rank

Ward held the four-star grade of general while serving as Commander, United States Africa Command, a "position of importance and responsibility" under Title 10 of the United States Code Subtitle 601. Ward was reduced in rank upon retirement by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Ward's retired rank is that of lieutenant general which was determined to be the last rank in which he had satisfactorily served.

Post-military

Since retiring, Ward has served as President and chief operating officer of the logistics, IT, and engineering business, Vectrus.
Ward continues to engage the strategy and policy community on matters of global security, including his participation in the Atlantic Council's 2018 Roundtable on security in Mali and ongoing discussions on the role of diplomacy in global stability, including the American Academy of Diplomacy's podcast series, “The General and the Ambassador".
Ward also serves on the Advisory Board of Redwood Global, an infrastructure, energy and investment firm.

Awards and decorations

Ward received the following awards and decorations:
William E. Ward received the Trumpet Award in 2010 as well as the BEYA award for Lifetime Achievement.

Notable memberships