Christopher O. Ward is currently the Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (and President of the Port Authority’s wholly owned entities: Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, the Newark Legal and Communications Center Urban Renewal Corporation, and the New York and New Jersey Railroad Corporation). He was appointed on May 22, 2008. This is Mr. Ward’s second tenure at the Port Authority. He previously served as Chief of Planning and External Affairs, as well as Director of Port Redevelopment from 1997 to 2002.
Immediately prior to being appointed Executive Director of the Port Authority, Mr. Ward served for over two years as Managing Director of The General Contractors Association of New York, Inc. (GCA), where he directed and managed the major trade association that represents the heavy construction industry in the City of New York.
Before joining the GCA, Mr. Ward spent a year as Chief Executive Officer of American Stevedoring, Inc., a stevedoring and port services company headquartered at the Brooklyn Port Authority Marine Terminal with major operations at the Elizabeth Port Authority Marine Terminal. Mr. Ward had previously worked at American Stevedoring in the 1990s.
Prior to leading American Stevedoring, from 2002-2005, Mr. Ward served as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the Bloomberg Administration. There, Mr. Ward lead an agency of 6,500 people and a combined capital and operating budget of over $2 billion. During his tenure at the DEP, he oversaw the maintenance and ongoing construction of the City’s water supply, distribution and wastewater system, carried out Federal Clean Water Act and Clean Air regulation, and managed all conservation programs and hazardous and asbestos material emergencies and remediation.
Before joining DEP, and his original tenure at the Port Authority, much of Mr. Ward’s professional career was spent in service to the City of New York in various capacities such as Senior Vice President for Transportation and Commerce at the Economic Development Corporation, Assistant Commissioner at the Department of Telecommunications and Energy and as Director of Research at the Department of Consumer Affairs.
Mr. Ward holds a Bachelor of Arts from Macalester College and a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard University’s Divinity School. Mr. Ward has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
