1. Darren Walker was born on August 28,1959 and is the 10th president of the Ford Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to human welfare, and President of the National Gallery of Art.
26 Facts About Darren Walker
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In June 2020, Walker led the Ford Foundation to issue a $1 billion designated social bond to stabilize non-profit organizations in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
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Darren Walker is a member of the Reimagining New York Commission and co-chair of 2020 New York City Census.
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Darren Walker co-founded both the US Impact Investing Alliance and the Presidents' Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy.
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Darren 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.
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Darren Walker 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.
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Darren Walker is co-chair of the New York Public Library Council.
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Darren Walker is board of directors vice-chairman at the New York City Ballet.
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In 2018, Darren Walker joined the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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Darren Walker was born in a charity hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana.
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Darren Walker was raised by a single mother, Beulah Spencer, in Texas, first in Ames and later in Goose Creek; and was one of the country's first children to benefit from the Head Start Program.
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Subsequently, in 1986, Darren Walker graduated from the University of Texas School of Law.
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In 1995, Darren Walker left the corporate world to spend a year volunteering at a school in Harlem.
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Darren Walker went on to become the chief operating officer at Abyssinian Development Corporation, a community development organization located in Harlem.
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Also, Darren Walker led the development of the first public school built in New York City by a community organization.
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From 2002 to 2010, Darren Walker was vice president for Foundation Initiatives at the Rockefeller Foundation, where he oversaw a wide range of programs in the United States and internationally.
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Darren Walker joined the Ford Foundation in 2010 as vice president for Education, Creativity and Free Expression, one of the foundation's three major program areas.
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Darren Walker oversaw the Ford Foundation's regional programming in four offices based in Africa and the Middle East.
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On July 20,2006, Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, announced that Darren Walker would be the foundation's vice president for initiatives in the United States and internationally.
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Darren Walker led the Rockefeller Foundation's work in the United States and globally in supporting innovations that built economic development, sustainability, and assets for poor and disadvantaged people while developing long-term responses to increasing migration and urbanization.
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Darren Walker oversaw the foundation's evolving strategy and vision for New York City, as well as its role in rebuilding New Orleans.
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Darren Walker has proven experience tackling many of the critical needs of low-income communities and families, such as affordable housing, job creation and better schools.
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Darren Walker will leave the Ford Foundation at the end of 2025.
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Darren Walker led efforts to save the Detroit Institute of Arts and city workers' pensions in the Detroit bankruptcy process.
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In October 2024, Darren Walker was named president of the National Gallery of Art.
26.
Darren Walker had been a member of the board of trustees for five years, and succeeded Mitchell Rales.