Salt Lake City, Utah - The United States Olympic Committee has chosen Lloyd D. Ward as its Chief Executive Officer.  Ward was selected by the USOC's Executive Committee, with unanimous support after interviews with three finalist candidates today in Chicago.  Ward will begin his tenure at Olympic House in Colorado Springs on November 1.    Also interviewed today were the organization's Acting CEO Scott Blackmun, who had guided the organization in that capacity for almost 12 months, and former three-term Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke.    "Lloyd Ward will bring the USOC not only charismatic leadership but a great sense of being able to elevate the organization to the next level," said USOC President Sandy Baldwin. "We had three superb finalist candidates and this was a very difficult decision."    Ward was the Chairman and CEO of the Maytag Corporation for 15 months until leaving the company in November 2000.  He had worked for Maytag since 1996 and served in a variety of executive positions.    Most recently, he served as Chairman and CEO of iMotors.com in San Francisco, where he was responsible for all aspects of a business unit which generated $100 million in sales and employed 600 people.  He left the organization in July 2001.    The former captain of the Michigan State basketball team graduated from the institution in 1970 and earned his MBA degree in 1984 from Xavier University in Cincinnati.    He was named one of Brandweek Magazine's "Marketers of the Year" in 1998 and one of the "Top 25 Executives of 1998" by Business Week Magazine while serving as Maytag's Executive Vice President and President of Maytag Appliances.    He also enjoyed a successful executive stint with Pepsico, Inc., from 1988 to 1996, serving as President, Frito-Lay, Inc. - Central Division from 1992-1996.  He was named Executive of the Year in 1995 by Black Enterprise Magazine.    He has served on the Board of Directors of General Motors, J.P. Morgan Chase and Company, and the Belo Corporation, and earned the Jack Breslin Lifetime Achievement Award and Distinguished Alumni Award from Michigan State during his career.    Baldwin will introduce Ward at the Olympic Media Summit in Salt Lake City tomorrow (October 22) at a 10:30 a.m. press briefing at the Grand America Hotel.