Ambassador George Herbert Walker III

Chairman of the Board

Ambassador George Herbert Walker III is Chairman of the Board of the Missouri Council for a Better Economy and Chairman of Better Together.  Among his many distinguished accolades and achievements, he served as Ambassador to Hungary from 2003 to 2006.

An investment executive by profession, Ambassador Walker served as chairman of G.H. Walker Laird before joining Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, where he went on to become President and Chief Executive Officer, later Chairman and now Chairman Emeritus.  He served on the Board of the Midwest Stock Exchange (now the Chicago Stock Exchange), the Regional Firms Advisory Committee of the NYSE and the Executive Committee of the Securities Industry Association.

Ambassador Walker’s interests have extended to education, politics and civic affairs.  He is currently Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Webster University and has served as a board member since 1974.  He also served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Webster’s Business School and Chairman of the Daniel Webster Society.

Politically, Ambassador Walker has been very active both regionally and nationally, serving as State Finance Chairman for Presidents Nixon and Reagan, and was very involved in his cousin former President George Herbert Walker Bush’s presidential campaigns in 1988 and 1992.

Ambassador Walker has served as Chairman of Downtown St. Louis, Inc. (now the Downtown Partnership) and headed the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way of Greater St. Louis in 1994.  He was a Board Member of the Missouri Historical Society, serving as Chairman from 1994-1997; Board Member of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis; and Commissioner and Treasurer of the St. Louis Science Center.

A graduate of Yale University (BA 1953) and Harvard Law (JD 1956), Ambassador Walker was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 1956.  He has received honorary degrees from Webster University, Harris-Stowe State University and recently, from two Hungarian universities, the University of Pecs and St. Istvan University.

Ambassador Walker and his wife Carol (Banta) have eight children and 13 grandchildren.