With more than 35 years of involvement in real estate, Ward's wide range of business experience includes restructuring corporate organizations, developing high-rise office buildings in New York City, and serving as chief operating officer of a very large commercial real estate company. After serving in the U.S. Army in Korea shortly after graduating from high school, Ward earned an accounting degree from Capitol University in Columbus, Ohio. Ward was hired out of college by Kenneth Leventhal & Company (now Ernst & Young) in Columbus, Ohio, in 1971 as an auditor, and he eventually moved into corporate restructuring. Ward moved to Kenneth Leventhal & Company's New York City office in 1973, where he would first cross paths with future MFP business partner Steve Posner. In 1982, Ward was hired as managing director and chief financial officer of HRO International, a client of his at Kenneth Leventhal & Company that was the most active high-rise office building developer in Manhattan. Ward remained at HRO International until 1995. That year, he accepted an offer to serve as chief operating officer of Hiro Real Estate Co. that came as a result of a nine-month overlap with Steve Posner at Kenneth Leventhal & Company more than a decade before. One of his first responsibilities at Hiro Real Estate was to draft a business plan to turn the company around. He did, and over the next 13 years, Honzawa, Posner and Ward steadily decreased debt and increased profits. Ward worked at Hiro Real Estate Co. as chief operating officer from 1995 to 2008 before leaving with Masahiro Honzawa to start MFP Real Estate with Steve Posner. Ward is married and has four grown children: two sons and two daughters. He and his wife, Renee, live in New York City.
| Types | Person, Business Person |