Allison Ward

Chief People Officer

“Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”

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As the Chief People Officer, Allison oversees our people and talent functions. She is charged with attracting and recruiting all of the awesome people who work here, building and maintaining the company culture, and making Walker Sands a better “Best Place to Work.” She is focused on ensuring our employees have access to all the resources necessary to do the best work of their careers, continue to learn and grow, and feel supported as people and professionals.

Allison’s passion is in creating inclusive policies to support our team in and outside the workplace. She leads and oversees our DEI strategy, is responsible for supporting and coaching managers across the agency, and helps employees navigate challenging situations internally and with clients. She worked passionately on Walker Sands’ fully-paid 12-week family leave policy and has made it a personal mission to help every parent at Walker Sands feel prepared and supported when welcoming a baby before, during, and after leave.

She believes our team is our greatest competitive advantage and her philosophy is to create policies and a culture that allows everyone to flourish.

Prior to her current role, Allison spent seven years at Walker Sands on the services side of the business. She has experience across a number of industries with a specialization in fintech, electronics, and HR tech.

She also has more than 10 years of experience in both B2B and B2C public relations, leading large integrated content marketing, web and video projects for several clients and creating award-winning campaigns that span marketing channels.

From 2018-2021, Allison served as the PR/Marketing partner for the Illinois Technology Association/1871 Women Influence Chicago Initiative which aims to develop the next generation of women leaders in tech in the Chicagoland area.

Before joining Walker Sands in 2013, Allison served as the community and brand manager for a restaurant group in Austin, Texas. Prior to which, she started her career as a brand ambassador for Oscar Mayer, where she learned the ins and outs of eloquently speaking on behalf of a brand, many key learnings of which have been applied to the robust media training program enjoyed by Walker Sands’ clients today.

Allison earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from Michigan State University, where she specialized in public relations and business. Immediately following graduation, she spent a year in the driver’s seat of the iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, which explains her affinity for hot dogs, traveling the world, and talking to strangers as if they’re old friends.

Allison now lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Chris, her two kids, Austin and Logan, and her naughty but lovable dog, Capone.

Specialties

• Leadership
• B2B marketing
• Strategy
• Themed parties
• Measurement

Skills

• Coaching
• Organization
• Planning
• Management
• Communications

Interests

• Family
• Travel
• Spartans
• Photos
• Tacos