Sheila Ward was born in Toronto and educated both in Toronto and Regina. She graduated from Saskatchewan Teachers' College and completed  two years toward a B.Admin. degree at the University of Regina.

Sheila's professional background includes 4 years as a secondary school teacher in Ancaster and Dundas, Ontario. In the not-for-profit sector, she has been Executive Director of the Regina and Kitchener-Waterloo YWCAs, and Director of Marketing and Communications for the YWCA of Canada. Her media background began as a reporter with the  Regina Leader Post where she covered Labour,  city hall and the provincial legislature before becoming Assistant City Editor.  Like many reporters of the time, she did freelance work with other media. She was an on-camera public affairs commentator for CBC TV both locally in Saskatchewan and on the network for programs such as Marketplace as a political commentator on TV and CBC radio. She was a panelist on a weekly political television show   for CTV in Regina and she also filed stories with the Toronto Star for several years.

Sheila was Special Assistant to the Ontario Minister of Energy from 1976 to 1978, leaving to join Imperial Oil as an Employee Relations Communications Consultant. She established her own communications company in 1985.

Sheila was elected as a school trustee for the former Toronto Board of Education in 1991. She successfully introduced a motion that decreased the number of trustees in her own ward of Midtown, believing that being represented by 3 trustees with only 11 schools was a shameful waste of taxpayer money. The voters agreed and she finished third out of a field of seven candidates in the election  of 1993 and thus lost her seat!  She ran again when the Harris government amalgamated the six education boards in Toronto and was elected to the inaugural board of the TDSB when it was established in 1997. Re-elected in 2000, Sheila was acclaimed in 2003 and re-elected to a 4-year term in 2006 and again in 2010.

She has never been a candidate other than for the school board, believing very strongly that there is no other level of politics that has as profound an impact on the future of a nation as the quality of education it delivers to its citizens. "I am glad that others are willing to spend their time looking after potholes, sewers and snow ploughing. Those are extremely important tasks but for me education is where I want to serve my community and I am extremely fortunate that the voters of Toronto Centre Rosedale allow me to continue in a job I love."

Sheila was a member of the board of the Toronto YWCA and designed its Women of Distinction program, now in its 28th year. She is a member of the Ontario Parole Board.

Sheila has been a devoted genealogist for 20 years and is a member of the Ontario and Saskatchewan Genealogical Societies. She is an avid baseball and football fan, following particularly the Blue Jays, the Chicago Cubs and the New England Patriots.