Marianne Ward

Country Director WFP Ukraine

Marianne Ward is currently the WFP Country Director ad interim in Ukraine. She has also been the Deputy Country Director, Operations in Ukraine, since July 2022. Before this, she was Deputy Country Director for Operations in Sudan, a post she has held from 2020 to 2022. Previous to this position, she was the Deputy Country Director in Iraq for two years. 

She joined the Iraq team from a position as the Executive Manager to the WFP Assistant Executive Director for the Operations Services Department, a position she took up in January 2018. Prior to this, she led the process to change the organizations policies for locally recruited employees, and held positions as the President of the WFP Professional Staff Association, as well as serving as the WFP Senior Regional Programme Advisor for the East and Central Africa region. Ms Ward began her career with WFP in 1993, and has held a number of positions in emergency operations, humanitarian policy and government donor relations.

Prior to joining WFP, Ms. Ward worked in the United States Senate and Congress for several legislators.

An American and Italian national, Ms. Ward has a degree in political science and a Masters in Management.