General William “Kip” Ward

William E. “Kip” Ward, a retired U.S. Army General Officer, is President of SENTEL Corporation of Alexandria, Virginia. As the inaugural Commander of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), Ward successfully established the nation’s newest and uniquely positioned interagency combatant command responsible for all U.S. defense and security activities on the African continent and its island nations with staff representatives from State, Commerce, Treasury, Homeland Security and other U.S. Cabinet Departments and Agencies. He is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and was commissioned as a Distinguished Military Graduate into the Regular Army in June 1971 through the ROTC program at Morgan State University. He is a distinguished leader having commanded at every echelon from Lieutenant to General.

Prior to commanding AFRICOM, General Ward was the Deputy Commander, United States European Command, Germany. While serving as Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army in 2005, General Ward was selected by the U.S. Secretary of State to serve as the United States Security Coordinator, Israel-Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Other key command and staff assignments include: Commander 2nd Brigade 10th Mountain Division during Operation Restore Hope, Somalia; The NATO Commander of Operation Joint Forge Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation, Cairo, Egypt; Vice Director for Operations, J-3, The Joint Staff, during the September 2001 terror attack on the Pentagon; Assistant Division Commander, 82nd Airborne Division, Ft Bragg, North Carolina and Commanding General 25th Infantry Division and U.S. Army Hawaii. Ward has also served command tours with troops in Germany, Korea, Ft Bragg, North Carolina, Ft Drum, New York and Ft Wainwright, Alaska. At the United States Military Academy at West Point, General Ward was an assistant professor in the Department of Social Sciences, teaching political science and public policy.

Ward holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Morgan State University, a Master of Arts Degree in Political Science from The Pennsylvania State University, an honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Morgan State University, and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Virginia State University. He is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses at Ft Benning, Georgia, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, and the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

His military awards and badges include: the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with two Oak Leaf Clusters); the Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster); the Defense Superior Service Medal (with two Oak Leaf Clusters); the Legion of Merit (with three Oak Leaf Clusters); the Expert Infantryman's Badge; the Combat Infantryman's Badge; and the Master Parachutist Badge. He has also received numerous foreign awards including from Liberia, Egypt, Italy, Uganda, Rwanda, Niger and Canada.