Vicky Ward

Infobox Person
name = Victoria Penelope Jane Ward


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1969|7|3
birth_place = Chelmsford, England
occupation = investigative journalist, columnist, newspaper and magazine editor, and television commentator.

Victoria Penelope Jane ("Vicky") Ward (born July 3, 1969) is a British-born investigative journalist, columnist, and television commentator. She is a former magazine deputy editor and newspaper editor. She has lived in New York City since 1997.

Early life

Vicky Ward was born in England to Jillian and Simon Ward, a financier; she is the eldest of three sisters.

She was educated at single-sex boarding schools from the age of nine: first until the age of thirteen at Godstowe Preparatory School in Buckinghamshire, England, where she won the coveted role of school pianist, and then from 1982 to 1987 at the famous Benenden Girl's School in Kent, England, where she was an academic scholar. At Benenden, Ward met and befriended Academy Award-winning actor Rachel Weisz, with whom she would later study at Cambridge. During her intermediary year, Ward spent time in Italy, where she studied both the Italian language and art history, and Germany, where she became fluent in German. She received both her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in English literature from Trinity Hall College at Cambridge University.

Since 1995, Ward has been married to SAC Capital portfolio manager Matthew Doull; they met at the offices of the " Daily Telegraph", where he was a financial journalist. The couple has two children, twins Lorcan and Orlando, and resides in New York City's West Village.

Ward is active in New York City literary philanthropy, and sits on boards of the New York Public Library (she is co-chairman of the Cubs program there) and the Late Night Committee of the Public Theater.

Journalism career

Ward began her journalism career in the chairman’s office of British Condé Nast. After only three months, Ward moved on to become the sub-editor of “The Insider,” the gossip column in the now-defunct British newspaper, " Today", followed by a position at the "Daily Telegraph", writing features and penning the weekly "Financial Diary". At 23, while continuing to write features, Ward became the editor of "The Independent"'s daily gossip column, in charge of a staff of four – the youngest person in Britain to hold a position of that responsibility. Despite the "Independent"’s refusal to publish Ward’s story on the suicide of British aristocrat Lady Caithness, citing an assumed lack of public interest, she submitted the article to the judges of the Catherine Pakenham award, Britain’s annual award for women journalists under 25, and was honored with the runner-up prize.

Before moving to the United States in 1997, Ward wrote for a number of prominent British publications, including the "Daily Telegraph", "The Sunday Times" magazine and the "Daily Mail", for which she became the features correspondent in the US, where she was assigned stories in the Arctic, Hollywood, and in most US States.

In 1998, at age 28, she began an 18 month-long managerial position as the news features editor at the "New York Post", before becoming the executive editor of Tina Brown's " Talk" magazine, departing shortly before it was folded by Miramax in 2001. Since then, she has held the position of contributing editor at " Vanity Fair", and blogs for VanityFair.com and the " Huffington Post". Her website, vickyward.com, indexes all her current work.

In 2007, she began a weekly column on the opinion pages of the " London Evening Standard". In January 2008, she added being an on-air contributor for CNBC to her career in print.

Recent work

At "Vanity Fair", Ward specializes in investigative reporting. She has profiled Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina, counter-terrorist expert Richard Clarke, Vivendi former chief Jean-Marie Messier, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, and, most notably, exposed CIA agent Valerie Plame, in a 2004 article [http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2004/01/plame200401 Vanity Fair, “Double Exposure”] ] . Her scathing 2005 profile of Morgan Stanley CEO Philip Purcell was widely considered to be a factor in his eventual ousting from the company.

Ward has also written extensively about the worlds of art and society: she has chronicled disputes at the Getty Museum, and at New York's Guggenheim; she profiled art collector and luxury magnate Francois Pinault as well as art publisher Louise MacBain; she has also profiled society figures Leila Hadley Luce and the late Brooke Astor.

On CNBC, she has appeared on various programs to discuss topics including the glass ceiling, the battle for the Tribune Newspaper Group, and war profiteering, in an interview with “War, Inc.” actor John Cusack.

She has also discussed the "booming call-girl industry" [http://www.style.com/trends/blogs/style_file/2008/05/chattering-clas.html Style.com, “Style File: Chattering Class”] , "The blond Brit...has sounded off on everything from the declining newspaper business to the booming call-girl industry—the latter is becoming a bit of a journalistic obsession for the writer, who has profiled Jeffrey Epstein and the D.C. Madam."] [http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=683638751&play=1 CNBC, Escort Services Disrobed] ] , having profiled Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the “D. C. Madam” (with whom she was in close communication up until Palfrey’s recent suicide) [http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/madam200805 Vanity Fair, “No Way to Treat a Lady”] ] , as well as making various appearances discussing former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer in the days following his prostitution scandal. [http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=680619264&play=1 CNBC, Socked By Scandal: Eliot Spitzer's Future] ]

Ward has also appeared on CNN, MSNBC, E!, "Access Hollywood", and " Extra". She has been profiled in the " New York Observer" [http://www.observer.com/node/42960 New York Observer, “At the Post, Vicky Ward’s Coattails are Off-Limits”] ] , the " London Evening Standard", and on "Style.com".

References

Related articles

* CNBC
* "The Huffington Post"
* " The London Evening Standard"
* " Vanity Fair"
* Tina Brown
* Graydon Carter
* John Cusack
* Deborah Jeane Palfrey
* Valerie Plame
* Rachel Weisz

External links

* [http://www.vickyward.com VickyWard.com]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiahiOUF4Gc CSNBC, “Suicide of the DC Madam”]
* [http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2008/05/vicky-ward-john.html Vanity Fair, "John Cusack's Viral Success Story"]
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vicky-ward Vicky Ward at "The Huffington Post"]