John Ward Economics: Big Work, Close to Home
By: Lindsay Sutton
Walk through The Commons on any given weekday, and you’ll find a mix of businesses, professionals, neighbors grabbing a workout, and people settling in to get some work done. But behind one of those office doors is a company whose work reaches far beyond New Town; whose history is intertwined with the development of an entire professional field.
John Ward Economics is headquartered right here in The Commons. As its largest tenant, the firm has built a home for its growing team in a place that feels decidedly different from the traditional corporate office. What happens inside, however, is highly specialized. “We are hired by attorneys to calculate damages for litigation purposes in civil court and testify to those calculations as expert witnesses,” explains William Rogers, owner and testifying economist at John Ward Economics. Basically, when something happens that upends a person’s life, John Ward Economics helps the courts determine a dollar amount.
They may be asked to calculate lost income following a death, future wages or retirement benefits lost because of discrimination, or the financial impact an injury may have on someone’s ability to work and live independently. They work for attorneys on either side of a case, plaintiff or defense, producing reports based on individual circumstances. It’s a niche profession formalized by John Ward Economics’ founder Dr. John “Jack" Ward.
From a Pad of Paper to a Profession
Dr. Ward’s first exposure to forensic economics came in the 1970s while he was an economics professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. By 1979, an attorney had asked him to prepare a damages report for a wrongful death case.
There was no established playbook. Forensic economics was still an emerging concept, without the professional organizations and extensive research that exist today. Dr. Ward worked through that first calculation with an HP-12C calculator and a pad of paper, using available information on life expectancy, unemployment probabilities, and wage growth to estimate what the person might have earned had they lived.
Then came 1981 and the collapse of the Hyatt Regency walkways in Kansas City that killed 114 people and injured more than 200 others. Dr. Ward was called upon to assist with numerous wrongful death and personal injury cases that followed the disaster.
Demand for his expertise grew, and that same year he incorporated John Ward and Associates, which would eventually become John Ward Economics.
Dr. Ward went on to help establish the National Association of Forensic Economics in 1985, becoming its first president and helping develop a profession that today includes economists across the country. John Ward Economics contributed pro bono economic reports and calculations for families through the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, generated dozens of academic publications, and developed statistical products used by federal agencies.
A New Chapter in New Town
Today, Dr. Rogers leads John Ward Economics, with Dr. Ward retired but still available to the firm as an internal consultant. The team includes PhD economists, research and case-management professionals, and operations and support staff, with most employees now based in the St. Louis area.
That shift helped bring the company to New Town. The Commons location initially opened as a secondary office in June 2023 while the firm’s original office remained in Prairie Village, Kansas. Within a few years, most employees were physically located in the St. Louis region, making a move to eastern Missouri a natural next step.
William and his wife, Jill Rogers, the firm’s Operations Manager and Executive Assistant, also live in New Town. As a former Community Manager of The Commons, Jill already knew what the space and the community surrounding it could offer. Today, their commute can be as simple as a 10-minute walk from home. Their coworkers take advantage of the neighborhood, too, heading out for walks, supporting New Town eateries and occasionally stopping into Commons Fitness. Visiting attorneys, court reporters and videographers coming in for depositions often get their first introduction to New Town through the firm.
“Most are pleasantly surprised and comment on the uniqueness and unexpected aspects of the community,” Jill says. Some attorneys even ask to stay a little longer and work from The Commons before heading out. It’s a combination the team appreciates: a professional place to conduct serious work surrounded by what they describe as The Commons’ slightly quirky, lighthearted atmosphere.
Still Looking Forward
More than four decades after Jack Ward sat down with a calculator and pad of paper, the field he helped establish continues to evolve. William intends for John Ward Economics to evolve with it. “I expect to have pushed the industry to adopt modern modeling techniques,” he says of the years ahead.
It’s fitting for a company that sums up its philosophy simply: “At John Ward Economics, we believe in the power of incremental improvements.” One calculation and one improvement at a time, John Ward Economics is continuing a legacy that began nearly 50 years ago, from now on, right here in the heart of New Town.
Links:
- Website: https://www.johnwardeconomics.com/
- LinkedIn: https://qr1.be/K5CM2T