Ford Foundation’s Darren Walker to present President’s Lecture Oct. 3

The President’s Lecture Series will feature Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, Oct. 3 as part of the Association of Rice University Black Alumni 50th Anniversary Celebration of Black Undergraduate Life at Rice. Walker’s talk will be 11:30 a.m. in the Dore Commons at James A. Baker III Hall. The event is free to attend and open to the public.

A community activist and philanthropist, Walker will share his personal experiences and thoughts on diversity, equal access to educational opportunities and addressing the inequality gap through new institutional approaches.

For two decades Walker has been a leader in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. He led the philanthropy committee that helped bring a resolution to the city of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy and chairs the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance.

Prior to joining Ford, he was vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, where he managed the rebuild New Orleans’ initiative after Hurricane Katrina. In the 1990s, as COO of Harlem’s largest community development organization, the Abyssinian Development Corporation, Walker oversaw a comprehensive revitalization program resulting in over 1,000 new units of housing, Harlem’s first commercial development in 20 years and New York’s first public school built and managed by a community organization. He had a decadelong career in international law and finance at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and UBS. He serves as a trustee of Carnegie Hall, New York City Ballet, the High Line, the Arcus Foundation and PepsiCo.

In 2016 Time magazine named Walker to its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the recipient of 10 honorary degrees.

Each year, the President’s Lecture Series brings to the Rice campus a variety of stimulating speakers on a range of topics. Rice offers the President’s Lecture Series as a means of enhancing the intellectual life not only of the Rice community but of our neighbors throughout the city of Houston. For more information, visit http://alumni.rice.edu/events/PLS-Walker.