Suzanne Ward is the executive director of CommunityCare Foundation and the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation, two recently formed organizations serving to improve the quality of life in our area.

After earning a bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas and a Master's degree from Pennsylvania State University, Suzanne spent ten years working as a social worker in venues from the Arkansas Women's Prison in Pine Bluff to the Area Agency on Aging in Batesville. She served as an aide for health and social service issues to David Pryor when he was governor and then opened the Levi Strauss Foundation office in Little Rock in 1979.

Her work with the Levi Strauss Foundation took her to San Francisco where she served as director of national giving programs. Additional work in the area of corporate philanthropy included serving as director of public relations for Syntex Corporation, a pharmaceutical firm based in Palo Alto, California, and three years as a consultant to new corporate foundations in Silicon Valley.

In 1998 she returned to Arkansas and now lives with her daughter in Springdale. She joined the CommunityCare Foundation in June 1999 and led the planning process that established the grantmaking guidelines and policies for that organization.

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