Mark Ward

Mark S. Ward is a retired foreign service officer who was the Director of the Syria Transition Assistance and Response Team (START), which is based out of U.S. Embassy Ankara and is responsible for coordinating all U.S. assistance to Syria from Turkey. Prior to this role, he served as the Deputy Special Coordinator in the Office of Middle East Transition at the U.S. Department of State, the office that coordinates all civilian assistance to Middle Eastern countries in transition to democracy. Mr. Ward is a Career Minister in the Senior Foreign Service of the United States.

Mr. Ward joined the Foreign Service in 1986 and has served in Pakistan (twice), Egypt, the Philippines, and Russia.

Mark is a native of San Francisco and received his Bachelor of Arts in political science and Juris Doctor from the University of California at Berkeley. He was headmaster of a girl's high school in rural Kenya before law school and practiced law in Washington for four years before joining the Foreign Service.