George Herbert Walker IV (born 1969) is an American investment manager.[1][2] He is the chairman and CEO of Neuberger Berman, one of the largest independent, employee-owned investment management firms.[3][4] During Walker's tenure, the firm survived the implosion of its corporate parent, Lehman Brothers, and was repurchased by the employees and has since been amongst the industry's best performers.[5] Walker is the first cousin once removed of 41st U.S. president George H. W. Bush, and the second cousin of 43rd president George W. Bush and Florida governor Jeb Bush.
He went to high school at St. Louis Country Day School. In 1986, he received a scholarship from the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag to study in Germany for the 1986-87 school year.[1]
Walker began his career on Wall Street when he joined Goldman Sachs in the Merger Department in 1992.[9] Six years later, in 1998, Walker became one of the youngest partners in the firm's history.[8] He held several senior positions at Goldman, including co-head of the firm's Wealth Management business / "gs.com", and head of Alternative Investment Strategies.[8]
President George Herbert Walker Bush appointed Walker to the Jacob Javits and Presidential Scholar Boards for the Department of Education.[8]
Walker was recruited to a rival investment bank, Lehman Brothers, to head its Investment Management Division, of which Neuberger Berman was a part. Following Lehman's bankruptcy, Walker led a management buyout and assumed his present position of chairman and CEO of Neuberger Berman.[3][4] Neuberger Berman has been named as a Best Place to Work by Pensions and Investments for the last 10 years, finishing first or second.[13]
In October 2023, Walker was elected to serve as Chair of the Investment Company Institute (ICI) Board of Governors.[14]
Community Service
Walker's current board service includes the Partnership for New York City (Vice Chair), the Ford Foundation, Memorial Sloan Kettering Center and the Trinity School.[15][16]
He served on the board of the New School University, Parsons School of Design (Chair), the University of Pennsylvania Arts & Sciences’ Board of Advisors, and Youth EnterNet.[8][12][17] He also served on the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.[12] In 2003, he funded the Alan Charles Kors Term Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania in honor of a former professor.[17]