Marcus Ward
A Native of West Point, Mississippi, Mr. Marcus D. Ward is the Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Executive Director of the ASU Foundation, Inc. at Alcorn State University. This year Alcorn is celebrating its 150th anniversary as the oldest HBCU land-grant university in the United States and its 100th year of fielding a championship football program that has won 6 consecutive SWAC eastern division champions and back-to-back conference championships. In 2020, Ward successfully secured a $25 Million donation, the largest cash gift in the history of a Mississippi institution of higher learning.
Marcus has served as Chief of Staff in the Capitol City for the late Mayor Frank E. Melton in the City of Jackson, Mississippi, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Special Assistant to U.S. Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott and as a Staff Assistant for U.S. Senator Thad Cochran.
Ward earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Pre-Law from Alcorn in 2000 and a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2004. He has studied public policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
Mr. Ward is a Ford Foundation PPIA Fellow, an American Israel Education Foundation Fellow (AIPAC), a Kentucky Colonel and a graduate of Leadership Greater Jackson Class of 2007-2008.