| Summary: | Chief of engineers, corporate chief executive, and military officer Joseph Nathan Ballard was born on March 27, 1942 in Meeker, Louisiana. Ballard attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, majoring in electrical engineering. He graduated in 1965 and joined the U.S. Army. He was one of very few African Americans assigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Between 1993 and 1995, Ballard served as Commander of the U.S. Army Engineer Center at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Ballard continued to work his way up the ranks and in 1996, became the first African American Chief of Engineers for the U.S. Army. In 2000, Ballard retired from the U.S. Army. That same year, he became president and chief executive officer of a business development company called the Ravens Group, LLC. In 2002, he founded TRG Construction, Inc., a general contracting firm, where he also served as president and CEO.
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