Bios

Ambassador (Ret.) Curtis A. Ward, BA, JD, LLM

CRPC Board Chairman

Ambassador Curtis A. Ward is a former ambassador of Jamaica to the United Nations, with two years of service on the UN Security Council. He is an attorney at law and international consultant specializing in national and international security law and policy; counter-terrorism legal and operational capacity assessments and solutions; international sanctions; rule of law and governance (program development and execution); geopolitical strategy analyses; international business transactions, and inter-governmental relations.

Ambassador Ward has travelled extensively throughout the world and has held meetings and discussions with high-level government officials and NGOs in many countries. He has visited several countries professionally, including: Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Barbados, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland, The Gambia, United Kingdom, and Zambia.

Ambassador Ward has participated in numerous fora as keynote speaker, and on numerous panels and in roundtables on: global security, terrorism, money laundering and terrorist financing, peace and security, international sanctions, rule of law and governance, peacekeeping, the role of the United Nations, economic development, and other related issues hosted by the United Nations and other inter-governmental organizations, governments, academia and other institutions, and NGOs. He has guest-lectured at a number of institutions, including: National Defense University – Near East South Asia Center for Security Studies, Washington, DC/USA; the NATO School (SHAPE), Oberammergau, Germany; and the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Center, Accra, Ghana.

Ambassador Ward has served as: Resource Facilitator of the Geneva Games at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, Geneva, Switzerland, guiding the UN Security Council Syndicate through table-top exercises on peace and security scenarios (2007–2010); Counter Terrorism Expert Participant – International Peace Institute’s Task Forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity (2008) – Global Terrorism; and participant in IPI’s Retreat to examine Peace and Security Threats to Latin America and the Caribbean (2009); and Chairman, Working Group 2, Stockholm Process on Implementation of Targeted Sanctions (Feb–Nov 2002).

Ambassador Ward is founder and president of Curtis Ward Associates, an international consulting firm; he is adjunct professor of international sanctions at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, DC; he is Of Counsel to the Law Offices of Gabriel J. Christian & Associates, Bowie, MD/USA; he has served as Expert Advisor to the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee and CTC’s Liaison with Regional and International Organizations (2002-2005); as Head of Mission – Joint UN-ECOWAS Fact-Finding Team which investigated an illegal migrant smuggling operation that had resulted in the deaths and disappearances of over 40 West Africans (Aug 2008 – Apr 2009).

Ambassador Ward’s writings on international and regional security issues, counter-terrorism legal and operational capacities, international security law, and international sanctions have been published as book chapters and journal articles.

He holds a Master of Laws in International Law from Georgetown University, Washington DC (1981); a Juris Doctor in Business and International Law from Howard University School of Law (1975); and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Howard University, Washington DC (1972). He is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC/USA.