David M. Walker (CPA)

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David M. Walker
David M. Walker

David M. Walker (born 1951) is the former[1] Comptroller General of the United States.

Contents

[edit] Career

Mr. Walker is a certified public accountant. He earned a B.S. in accounting from Jacksonville University, a Senior Management in Government Certificate in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He holds Honorary Doctorates from various universities including American University and his alma mater.

Mr. Walker was appointed by President Bill Clinton, and began his 15-year term as Comptroller General upon taking his oath of office on November 9, 1998. Before taking up this position, Mr. Walker had extensive executive level experience in both government and private industry. Between 1989 and 1998, he was a partner with Arthur Andersen LLP, where he was global managing director of the human capital services practice based in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also a member of the board of Arthur Andersen Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor. While at Arthur Andersen, Mr. Walker served as a Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare from 1990 to 1995. Before joining Arthur Andersen, he was Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs from 1987 to 1989 and in 1985, was Acting Executive Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. His earlier technical, professional, and business experience was with Price Waterhouse, Coopers & Lybrand and Source Services Corporation, an international human resources consulting and search firm.

In 2007 Mr. Walker was elected as a member of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations. He also currently chairs the U.S. Intergovernmental Audit Forum and the U.S. Joint Financial Management Improvement Program. He is on the Board of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions and various educational and not-for-profit entities. 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 is married to the former Mary Ethredge; they have two adult children.

In September 2007, GAO analysts approved the first union in GAO's 86-year history, by a margin of 2-1, in an election with 75 percent turnount. As the Washington Post's Federal Diary columnist Steophen Barr explained, "GAO analysts formed the union last year because of concerns about the fairness of a 2005-06 restructuring of compensation practices at the GAO and the way managers conduct performance evaluations." (Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2008) Issues that led to approval of the union included denial of cost of living adjustments to more than one of every six GAO analyst in January 2006, and providing COLAs to other employees performing satisfactorily that were below those received by all other federal employees in both 2006 and 2007.

On, March 12, 2008, Mr. Walker, resigned as Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO and accepted position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the newly established Peter G. Peterson Foundation. [2]

[edit] Views and actions as Comptroller General

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.[3][4][5]

Walker has actively taken a public stance against the accumulation of massive federal budget deficits and public debt. He has participated in community lectures through an effort organized by the Concord Coalition, in a set of public appearances known as the "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour." This has consisted of a series of trips across the country, along with Robert Bixby, director of the Concord Coalition, in which a group of speakers make presentations in various communities regarding the size and impact of the US National Debt.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ U.S. GAO - Gene L. Dodaro's Biography
  2. ^ http://www.gao.gov/cghome/dwbiog.html
  3. ^ Grant, Jeremy, "Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned," Financial Times, August 14 2007.
  4. ^ Allison, Tony, "The Boomers are Coming, The Boomers are Coming: Demographic Tsunami is at the Gate," Financial Sense Wrap-up, Octrober 15, 2007.
  5. ^ "U.S. Heading For Financial Trouble? Comptroller Says Medicare Program Endangers Financial Stability," CBS News, 60 Minutes, July 8, 2007.

[edit] Books by Walker

  • 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.

[edit] External links