After working at the highest level of motorsports for nearly two decades, Gavin Ward is adamant that the key to harnessing a team’s potential isn’t a component on the car itself. It’s about the people – and how the people within the team – come together to explore their passion in a healthy and productive—and competitive—work environment.

Gavin's guiding principles and leadership skills were acknowledged by the Indianapolis Business Journal on Thursday, as they officially welcomed him to their esteemed Forty Under 40 Class of 2024.

After first joining Arrow McLaren in June 2022, he has been leading as Team Principal since October 2023. With a unique blend of technical expertise paired with an emphasis on fostering a people-centric organization, Gavin is focused on progress in both areas as Arrow McLaren charts its path forward.

We sat down with Gavin to discuss his selection to the group, his thoughts on leadership and cultivating a positive culture.

Question: What does it mean to you to be selected by the Indianapolis Business Journal on both a personal and professional level?

Gavin Ward: “It’s always nice to be recognized, but this one certainly came as a bit of a surprise. It’s been quite the journey to now be running an NTT INDYCAR SERIES team. I feel like we’re just getting started here and we’re pretty adamant about trying to do things differently – and in the way that I think is the right way. It’s nice to have acknowledgment of that, but again, we’re just getting started.”

Q: When you began as Team Principal of Arrow McLaren, you said that you wanted to change the sport for the better and set the standard of performance the right way. What does that mean to you?

Gavin: “This sport is driven by performance, but I think that you can make meaningful change through the people. This is a people game, and results can come from taking care of your people and by helping people become better versions of themselves.  We want to allow people to bring their authentic selves to work and to draw from as wide and diverse of a talent pool as possible. We encourage people to bring in different thoughts and different backgrounds while we try to make it all work. It’s not necessarily about agreeing on everything but having the right amount of discourse to drive better decisions.

I’ve been privileged to work with some great racing teams in my career, and I’ve always thought there was a better way. I’ve always thought that the best way is to unleash the passion that is naturally in this sport. Of course, some may not be entering this sport from the passion side of things, but we want to find a way to develop motivation, bring them in and have it all work together.”

Q: As a young leader receiving this award, what values guide your vision for the team?

Gavin: “I’ve learned over time that I want to be truly authentic in what I do. To be authentic, one way to do that is to anchor yourself to what your core values are. For starters, I really, really care about people and enjoy what different people bring to the full picture. I’d like to think that when people come to this team, we can help them have a better life and that is a core value that I want.

Being performance focused, I want to take a mindset that is a little bit detached from the results and focus on getting better while enjoying the fun in this sport. Fun is a big part of things, but it’s not to be flippant. People perform their best when they are happy and are enjoying themselves.

Family is another core value, and we do not take that for granted. We acknowledge that the time commitment is a tough reality of the job, but we want to remove the stigma that you need to miss major life events when you shouldn’t have to.”

Q: What message do you hope your selection might send to others aspiring to join the team or to follow a similar career path?

Gavin: “First, I’ve been very lucky. I was a kid in Canada that wanted to work with race cars. I fell in love with cars when I was 10 years old and then quickly fell in love with racing. Then, it all started with my dad taking me to Mosport (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park) and beginning to work with a grassroots local race team through high school. That passion took me to England for University where I could chase a dream. I would hang around the paddock in Toronto and ask people working with the teams, ‘How did you get into racing?’

Then, through all of that, there were also times when I was working in my dream job, but I wasn’t exactly content with my situation. I would grow frustrated and always want to go after that next job, the next promotion and seek higher and higher jobs. I would encourage people to enjoy the journey while you’re at it. It takes tough moments to appreciate where you’re at. I look back at those moments where I was immensely frustrated, and at the same time, they were some of the best times in my career. It’s taken a long time to find that contentment, but I promise you, it is important.

I would say to young people, don’t be afraid to chase after your dream. Just go for it.”

Q: What lessons have your learned making the jump from winning race engineer to Team Principal?

Gavin: “The culture comes first for me. You need people to buy in to the culture, first and foremost. I think that everybody on the team can lead and can help culture and help people. It’s up to us to be intentional about the culture we want rather than just let it happen by chance. By that, I mean how we approach going racing, how we tackle disagreements, how we fix issues, how we work across departments, how the drivers work together, how we support people.

It’s a never-ending process, and you never stop working on it. Now, my role is to take a passionate and healthy culture and try to get an even more supercharged focus from the entire team.”