Diana Walker

Diana Walker focuses her work in market based and philanthropic social impact strategy, investment, influence, partnerships, and thought leadership. She works with corporations, governments, investors, NGOs, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists to develop innovative and measurable for-profit social impact business lines as well as large scale philanthropic investment allocation. Diana has spent more than 15 years building impact initiatives and partnership alliances, most recently around climate change and corporate sustainability, Sustainable Development Goal strategies, risk mitigation of social impact endeavors, new market opportunities and market research, and impact investment funds. Diana founded Walker Impact Strategies in 2012, which focuses its work as a boutique firm to support private and public sector clients across multiple industries to help them grow and measure their social impact work sustainability and most effectively. Diana also works with companies and investment funds to help to build out effective models of social impact measurement. Diana has helped to build and lead strategy and partnerships for corporations in topics including climate change, global health, women and girls empowerment, sustainable infrastructure, refugees, and immigration with companies including Aera Investments, AnswerLab, Bechtel, Blackbaud, Caterpillar, Chobani, The Conduit, Dell, Guggenheim Investments, Lyft, Techstars, Variety, Walgreens, Warby Parker, and others. In addition, she has worked with social impact groups including the Aspen Institute, Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project, BMW Foundation, Foundation for Climate Restoration, Milken Institute, UK Royal Family members and the Royal Foundation, the Skoll Foundation, TED, Travalyst, UN Foundation, World Economic Forum, and others to build new initiatives around the Sustainable Development Goals and impact transformation. Other examples of her work include building and running the multi-sector Carbon Removal Task Force, leading programming curation and tracking of social impact trends and best practices for The Conduit network and club in London, coordination of Global Goals Week in New York and creation of the We the Future event with social entrepreneurs and global leaders hosted by the UN Foundation, Skoll Foundation and TED during UNGA Week, curation of impact investing private sessions during multiple global convenings throughout the year, and The Global Goals Hub in Davos during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. Prior to Walker Impact Strategies, Diana spent 12 years at the United Nations Foundation and worked on the 2004 and 2008 Democratic National Conventions, Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign, and the White House on advance trips for political leaders including then President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden, Second Lady Jill Biden and Secretary Hillary Clinton. While at the UN Foundation, Diana built and facilitated cross-sector partnerships between the United Nations and Fortune 500 companies, governments and Heads of State, entrepreneurs, non-profits and foundations, and other influencers to help further the United Nations’ work to create meaningful social impact in communities around the world. Diana helped developed some of the UN Foundation’s first public facing awareness, advocacy, and impact campaigns and over the next decade facilitated global partnership strategies and built partnership eco-systems with the UN, UN Foundation and other public and private sector groups. From 2010-2014, Diana built and managed the UN Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council, a high-level group comprised of leaders in the entrepreneur community who dedicate two years to work closely with the UN Foundation to bring new ideas, innovation, perspective, and networks to the work of the UN to help solve global problems. Diana built the first ever Global Accelerator at the United Nations which brought together social entrepreneurs and UN experts to collaborate on solutions to human empowerment globally. Diana is Chair of the Social Sector Accelerator, and sits on the Board of Counterpart International and Maverick Next. She is a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader and a Member of The Conduit and Nexus Global, She also has spent time mentoring young social entrepreneurs through the Resolution Project’s Guide Program.

carbon removal, climate change, corporate social responsibility, esg, partnerships, strategy, sustainability