David M. Walker (born 1951) served as United States Comptroller General from 1998 to 2008, and is now the President and CEO of The Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
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Career as Comptroller General
Walker served as Comptroller General of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 1998 to 2008. Appointed by President Bill Clinton, his tenure as the federal government's chief auditor spanned both Democratic and Republican administrations. While at the GAO, Walker embarked on a Fiscal Wake-up Tour[1], partnering with the Brookings Institution, the Concord Coalition, and the Heritage Foundation to alert Americans to wasteful government spending.[2] Walker left the GAO to head the Peterson Foundation on March 12, 2008.[3] Labor-management relations became fractious during the 9-year tenure of the 7th Comptroller General, David M. Walker. On September 19, 2007, GAO analysts voted by a margin of two to one (897–445), in a 75% turnout, to establish the first union in GAO's 86-year history.
Peter G. Peterson Foundation
In 2008, Walker was personally recruited by Peter G. Peterson, co-founder of the Blackstone Group, and former Secretary of Commerce under Richard Nixon, to lead his new foundation. The Foundation distributed the documentary film, I.O.U.S.A.[4], which follows Walker and Robert Bixby, director of the Concord Coalition, around the nation, as they engage Americans in town-hall style meetings, along with luminaries such as Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Paul Volker and Robert Rubin.
Peterson was cited by the New York Times as one of the foremost "philanthropists whose foundations are spending increasing amounts and raising their voices to influence public policy."[5] In philanthropy, Walker has advocated a more action-based approach to the traditional foundation: “I do believe, however, that foundations have been very cautious and somewhat conservative about whether and to what extent they want to get involved in advocacy.”[6]
Campaign for fiscal responsibility
Walker has compared the present-day United States with the Roman Empire in its decline, saying the U.S. government is on a "burning platform" of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, expensive overcommitments to government provided health care, swelling Medicare costs, the enormous expense of a prospective universal health care system, immigration, and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon.[1][2][3]
Walker has also taken the position that there will be no technological change that will mitigate health care and social security problems into 2050 despite ongoing discoveries.
In the national press, Walker has been a vocal critic of profligate spending at the federal level. In Fortune Magazine, he recently warned that, "from Washington, we'll need leadership rather than laggardship."[7]; in another op-ed in the Financial Times, he argued that the credit crunch could portend a far greater fiscal crisis [8]; and on CNN, he said that the United States is "underwater to the tune of $50 trillion" in long-term obligations.[9]
Other responsibilities
Prior to his appointment to the GAO, Walker served as a partner and global managing director of Arthur Andersen LLP and in several government leadership positions, including as a Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare from 1990 to 1995 and as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs during the Reagan administration. Before his time at Arthur Andersen, Walker worked for Source Finance, a personnel agency, and before that was in Human Resources at accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand.
In 2007 Mr. Walker was elected as a member of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee (IAAC) of the United Nations. He also serves on the boards of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Partnership for Public Service. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, the National Academy of Social Insurance and an active member of various professional, public service, and other organizations, including the Sons of the American Revolution. Mr. Walker has won numerous leadership and public service awards. He has authored two books, and is a regular commentator.
Personal and education
Walker holds a B.S. in accounting from Jacksonville University, a Senior Management in Government Certificate in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, his first honorary degree from Bryant University with several other honorary doctorate degrees. He is also a Certified Public Accountant. He and his wife Mary live in Alexandria, VA and have two children and three grandchildren.
For his work at the GAO and at the Peterson Foundation, Walker was awarded the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' highest award on October 19, 2008.[10]
Notes
- ^ Grant, Jeremy, "Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned," Financial Times, August 14 2007.
- ^ Allison, Tony, "The Boomers are Coming, The Boomers are Coming: Demographic Tsunami is at the Gate," Financial Sense Wrap-up, Octrober 15, 2007.
- ^ "U.S. Heading For Financial Trouble? Comptroller Says Medicare Program Endangers Financial Stability," CBS News, 60 Minutes, July 8, 2007.
Books
- 1996. Retirement Security: Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future. John Wiley & Sons.
- 1998. Delivering on the Promise: How to Attract, Manage and Retain Human Capital. Free Press.
External links
- 60 Minutes interview on state of our economy. 60 Minutes.
- Interview with BBC's Hardtalk.
- Conversation with David Walker. Minnesota Public Radio program Policy and a Pint, April 18, 2007.
- Interview in Georgia State University, J. Mack Robinson College of Business publication, State of Business.
- David Walker on Glenn Beck discussing the upcoming financial crisis.
- Youtube footage of 60 Minutes interview
- Economic Disaster AheadCNN.
- Saving Our Future: Today's Tough Choices A 2005 appearance at the City Club of Portland
- The Nation's Growing Fiscal Imbalance: Perspectives and Issues with David Walker, Comptroller General of the United StatesRichard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley
- Lou Dobbs & David Walker on the Economy 2/20/08 CNN
- Rep. Elijah Cummings and Comptroller General David Walker discuss contractor bonuses for "attitude and effort" as opposed to performance.
- Auditing Uncle Sam Interview First Business Morning News
- America's Financial Future Video Presentation created by the U.S. Government Accountability Office
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