Darren Walker

Darren Walker
Darren Walker
Born	August 28, 1959 Lafayette, Louisiana
Residence	New York
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	University of Texas at Austin
Occupation	President of Ford Foundation
Partner(s)	David Beitzel

Darren Walker is a nonprofit executive who serves as president of the Ford Foundation. Earlier in his career, Walker worked as a lawyer and as an investment banker.

Walker is a fellow of the Institute for Urban Design, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a board member of the Arcus Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Friends of the High Line, and the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies. He has been a teacher of housing, law and urban development at the New York University School of Law and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He is co-chair of the New York Public Library Council. He is board of directors vice-chairman at the New York City Ballet.

Walker was born in a charity hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana. Walker was raised by a single mother in Ames and later Goose Creek, Texas; and was one of the country's first children to benefit from the Head Start Program. Walker said that his background "has given me an understanding of the need for investment in human capital and the centrality of private philanthropy making a difference in human lives."

With financial support from a Pell Grant, Walker was admitted into the University of Texas at Austin. In 1982, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in government and a Bachelor of Science in speech communication. In 1986, Walker graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a Juris Doctor.

Walker began his career in 1986 at the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. In 1988, he joined Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) and spent seven years in its capital markets division.

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