John Ward teaches and studies strategic management, business leadership, and family enterprise continuity. He is an active researcher, speaker and consultant on continuity, ownership, governance, and philanthropy. Ward is Clinical Professor of Family Enterprises at Kellogg School of Management (USA), and has taught at IMD (Switzerland), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Indian School of Business, and IESE (Barcelona).  His is also a Co-Founder and Senior Advisor of The Family Business Consulting Group.

He is author or co-author of leading books on family business:  Perpetuating the Family Business: 50 Lessons Learned from Long-Lasting Successful Families in Business; Keeping the Family Business Healthy; Unconventional Wisdom: Counterintuitive Insights for Family Business Success; Family Business: Key Issues; Strategic Planning for the Family Business; When Family Businesses are Best; Family Business as Paradox (www.familybusinessasparadox.com ); and Building a Successful Family Business Board: A Guide for Leaders, Directors, and Families. With Craig Aronoff, Ward authors a continuing collection of twenty booklets, “The Family Business Leadership Series,” each booklet focused on specific issues family businesses face. (See www.thefbcg.com.)

John graduated from Northwestern University (B.A.) and Stanford Graduate School of Business (M.B.A. and Ph.D.). Previously he was the Ralph Marotta Professor of Private Enterprise and Associate Dean at Loyola University Chicago and, prior to that, a Senior Associate with Strategic Planning Institute (PIMS Program) in Cambridge, Massachussetts. He is now Co-Director of The Center for Family Enterprises at Northwestern University. 

Ward serves on the boards of four companies in North America, China, Europe and the Middle East.  He was founding director of the Justin Wynn Youth Leadership Academy and is a co-founder of the Voice Health Institute and a past president of its board.