37 Although Walker didn’t get offered a permanent position at KU at that time, he got a job as a Banking Consultant and later became a partner of the firm. His last position before becoming a professor was Director of Research at a company called BNK Advisory Group where he managed a team of bank analysts. The company helped small banks with their investment portfolio and balance-sheet management by conducting financial analysis, often understanding the banks more than their own CEOs and CFOs. “At one point,” Walker explained, “my team was doing over a hundred financial analyses every quarter for small bank clients in PA, OH, and NY.” This was an interesting position, which later brought a lot of practical knowledge to Walker’s teaching at KU. “I think that in Business it’s so invaluable to have industry experience,” Walker expressed. “When I taught investment courses, I could talk about the work we’d done with various banks’ investment/bond portfolio in terms of corporate and treasury bonds, mortgage bank securities, risks versus return, and what to watch out for.” Walker talked about the actual bank data that he was able to bring into class from his industry experience as well as a database that KU subscribed to for the students to make calculations and judgements on the actual performances of each bank. Walker’s students had additional experiential opportunities as they participated in a case study competition “where students would go to a bank and interview the executives there and then write up a report and a financial analysis on the bank,” Walker explained. “I think that it was very helpful that I had worked with banks and had those connections,” Walker relayed. This industry experience that Walker possessed was frequently mentioned by students in Walker’s professor evaluations as a component that they appreciated due to his insight and his ability to “talk the language” that they could utilize in interviews once they were ready to enter the workforce. During Walker’s twelve years in the business world, he overcame a hurdle that could’ve hugely affected his ability to teach. He explained that he has a condition called myasthenia gravis, which affects the vocal cords leading to hoarseness much quicker than the average person. This condition caused Walker to ultimately withdraw his applications to other local schools back when he first earned his doctorate. “At that time, I thought that academia was not in the cards for me”, Walker conveyed, but then found a top Otolaryngologist in Philadelphia that gave him a second opportunity to teach. It was a rare type of surgery he underwent that brings the vocal cords closer together and ultimately relieved the stress, staving off the hoarseness. After the surgery, voice therapy, and always having a microphone no matter the size of the class, Walker missed only one day of lecture in his sixteen years at Kutztown due to the issue. “Your number one asset really is your voice in this profession,” Walker relayed, “and I was very happy that I was able to turn that around and fulfill my dream of becoming a professor.” It was this surgery and a little bit of ideal timing that brought Walker to KU in 2006. At BNK Advisory Group, the partnership started to disband as the first partner wished to take the firm in a different direction, buying out Walker and a third partner. Soon after, KU opened a position for professor of Finance. Walker applied, and after interviewing, procured the position. “I give this as an example to my students to never give up,” Walker explained, “because I kept my eyes on Kutztown and twelve years later the dream job became available again.” After sixteen years of teaching, Walker is most proud of helping students resurrect the FMA Affiliate Finance Club, for which he served as advisor. The club has been awarded a superior chapter several times by the Financial Management Association. Walker recollects taking advice from Professor Dave Wagaman, who was the Accounting Club advisor; “This advice included putting in the time to meet with the students weekly and helping them plan their budget and agenda,” Walker explained, “I would encourage them to run it almost as a business.” Walker learned much through the course of his industry experience that benefited his many students during the sixteen years he spent at KU. “With business, when you’re dealing with investments, sometimes they do very well and sometimes, not too well, and you have to remain calm.” The same can be said in our careers he continued, “We all have good days, and we all have bad days, but if you keep setting goals and working towards those goals, you can see over time that you’ve made really great accomplishments.” He encouraged students to seek help during the low days by saying, “I think some students are reluctant to seek help but when you’re doing one-on-one tutoring, it really accelerates your learning.” Walker has plans to give back to the community by way of tutoring during his retirement and has plans to stay active by traveling, riding his e-mountain bike, playing pickleball, excelling in the violin, and keeping up with his grandsons, who are also athletic. “Being a professor is a noble position; it is great for meeting, working, and networking with a lot of great people,” Walker said, “which will probably be the hard part of retiring and not having the opportunity to interact with all of these great people.”
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