Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial.

Henry Ward Beecher was regarded as the most popular Christian minister in the United States for more than 30 years of his life. From the 1850s to the 1880s, Beecher spoke to large congregations every week. Beecher was able to change the minds of thousands by using the New Testament to show that slavery was wrong.

To his credit, Henry Ward, founder and CEO of Carta, has responded swiftly and decisively, announcing that Carta would step away from secondary trading of private shares. This was the right move. Even the appearance of a conflict of interest with customers of the lucrative cap table business was too grave a risk.

Carta CEO Henry Ward claimed that an employee had violated internal policies, affecting three companies, including Linear. He also said Carta had launched an investigation and reached out to the impacted founders, and on Monday, that it would be exiting its secondaries business entirely to avoid conflicts of interest.