Beth Ward named Kansas State University Alumni Fellow

Beth Ward is one of 12 distinguished Kansas State University alumni honored as 2025 Alumni Fellows. Ward is an Alumni Fellow for the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering and will be on campus to present guest lectures April 23-24.

Alumni Fellows return to campus to discuss current trends and to meet with students and faculty. The Fellows were chosen based on their high levels of professional accomplishment and distinguished service in their respective careers.

With 30 years of global supply chain experience, Ward, Lawrence, Kansas, serves as an authentic leader, catalyst and change agent at organizations that align with her core values… meaningful purpose, capable teams and people-focused cultures. Most recently, Ward served as COO at Smart Warehousing and senior vice president supply chain and corporate officer at Hallmark, successfully leading the company through the most tumultuous years for supply chains in modern history.

Ward earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering from K-State in 1993. She also earned a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Kansas. An active community servant, Ward is currently serving as a board member for K-State Olathe. Ward also served as vice chair for the MoKan Goodwill board and chair of the Engineering Advisory Council at K- State.

Both K-State engineers, Ward’s 30-year spouse, Dr. Ken Ward ’92, ’94, is an associate teaching professor at KU. Their son, Ryan, is a junior at Indiana University in the Kelley School of Business.

For more information about the Alumni Fellows program, visit k-state.com/fellows.