Jim Ward is Senior Advisor at William & Wall. He brings more than four decades of leadership experience across venture capital, entertainment, technology, and global media, with a career spanning corporate executive leadership, venture investment, and creative industries.

Mr. Ward is currently a Venture Partner with Alsop Louie Partners, a San Francisco–based venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments. In this role, he works with the firm’s general partners on investment strategy and brand development and has been actively involved with portfolio companies including Niantic, Meow Wolf, Ursa Major, and other emerging technology ventures. He also serves as a General Partner at TK MediaTech Ventures and as a senior advisor to Roadrunner Venture Studios, where he helps identify and scale deep-technology ventures in advanced manufacturing, quantum technologies, energy innovation, and frontier materials.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Ward served as President of LucasArts and Senior Vice President of Lucasfilm, where he led the global commercial expansion of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises across film, television, home entertainment, and interactive gaming platforms. Prior to Lucasfilm, Mr. Ward held senior leadership positions in global advertising and marketing, including roles at Doyle Dane Bernbach, BBDO, and Wieden+Kennedy, where he worked on major global campaigns and product launches for companies including Apple, Microsoft, and Nike.

Mr. Ward also served as co-Chief Executive Officer of Meow Wolf, an immersive arts and entertainment company, where he helped guide the organization through a period of significant growth and expansion. During his tenure, the company successfully launched major exhibition venues in Las Vegas and Denver while scaling operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Phoenix Symphony, where he led the organization for more than a decade.

Throughout his career, Mr. Ward has remained active in civic and cultural leadership. He has served as Chairman of the Entertainment Software Association, participated in the leadership of San Francisco’s 2016 Olympic bid committee, and held numerous advisory and board roles across arts, economic development, and technology organizations throughout the Southwest. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Opera Southwest and holds board and trustee roles with several cultural and civic institutions, including the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Mr. Ward earned a Bachelor of Arts from Hanover College and a Master of International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management.