VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS & BROADCASTING
De Anna Sheffield Ward joined the Rays as vice president, media and communications in January 2022 and transitioned to vice president, communications and broadcasting a year later. In addition to leading the broadcasting department and social media team, she assists with business communications and crisis communications. Ward spent 14 years in various marketing, communications, development and corporate partnership roles with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay, where she now serves on the board of directors. She began her career working in local television as a reporter, anchor and community affairs host in six different television markets, including six years with WTSP-TV Tampa Bay from 2001-07. Ward earned her bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Jackson State University and has certifications in fundraising and diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2026, she joined the board of directors for the Rays Up Foundation. She is a member of the 2024 WISE (Women in Sports and Events) Executive Leadership Institute held in partnership with Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth and was selected to Major League Baseball’s 2023 Katy Feeney Leadership Award Class. Ward was also named Tampa Bay’s Big Sister of the Year in 2013 and is a member of the 2007 Class of Leadership Tampa. She spends time volunteering in the community as a member of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Ward and her husband, Rodney, reside in Apollo Beach with their two children, Payton and Jackson.