David M. Walker
David M. Walker (born 1951 in Birmingham) is an accountant and economic analyst and was head of the Government Accounting Office from 1998 to 2008.
Walker's family moved from Birmingham when he was 12 years old. He studied accounting at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida and worked for Source Finance and Coopers & Lybrand before he became a partner at Arthur Anderson and eventually the firm's global managing director.
President Ronald Reagan appointed him Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs and in 1998 President Bill Clinton named him to head the GAO as comptroller general.
He resigned after 10 years disgusted with the state of accounts in the federal budget. He is now president of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, an advocacy group he founded with the former Secretary of Commerce to campaign for fiscal responsibility. The foundation produced and distributed a documentary film called I.O.U.S.A. to publicize problems with the national debt.
Walker 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. He authored two books and is a frequent commentator on national news programs.
Publications
- Walker, David M. (1996) Retirement Security: Understanding and Planning Your Financial Future. John Wiley & Sons.
- Walker, David M. (1998) Delivering on the Promise: How to Attract, Manage and Retain Human Capital. Free Press.
References
- Hubbard, Russell (October 1, 2009) "Birmingham native David Walker again sounds alarm on nation's finances." Birmingham News