Skip to main content

Don Walsworth Elected Chair of UM Board of Curators; Cheryl D.S. Walker Elected Vice Chair

Long Title
Don Walsworth Elected Chair of University of Missouri Board of Curators; Cheryl D.S. Walker Elected Vice Chair

Contact: Jennifer Hollingshead

Office: (573) 882-0601

E-mail: hollingsheadj@umsystem.edu

The University of Missouri Board of Curators has elected new officers for the coming year. Curator Don Walsworth, of Marceline, was unanimously elected Board Chair for the year 2007. Walsworth currently serves as Board Vice-Chair. Curator Cheryl D.S. Walker, of St. Louis, was unanimously elected Board Vice-Chair for 2007.

Both Curators will assume their new offices for one-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2007. Curators Walsworth and Walker were appointed to the Board of Curators in 2003 by Governor Bob Holden, and their terms on the board expire in January 2009.

Curator Walsworth has chaired the Finance and Human Resources Committee and he has served on the Executive Committee and the Physical Facilities and Management Services Committee. He represents Missouri's Sixth Congressional District.

Among Walsworth's first challenges as Board of Curators Chair will be organizing the search for a successor to University of Missouri President Elson S. Floyd, who was introduced on Dec. 13 as the next president of Washington State University. The Board of Curators began discussions of the presidential search during its regular meetings in Columbia on Dec. 14-15.

"We as a Board of Curators will begin a diligent and thorough process to search for a worthy successor to Elson S. Floyd. This will be a smooth transition of leadership. We want a leader who will move us with wisdom and confidence along our path to becoming a great university," Walsworth said. "The people of Missouri deserve no less."

About the new leadership of the Board of Curators

Board of Curators Chair-elect Don Walsworth received a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1957. An active member of the University of Missouri-Columbia Alumni Association, Curator Walsworth has received numerous honors from the institution and its support organizations. In 1980, Curator Walsworth was honored with the University of Missouri-Columbia's Faculty/Alumni Award. In 1989, he was recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor granted by the University to an individual.

Curator Walsworth was a co-founder and has served as chairman of the prestigious Herbert J. Davenport Society, which was formed to encourage private support and development of the College of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

He is chief executive officer of Walsworth Publishing Company, Inc. of Marceline. With 1,500 employees, Walsworth Publishing is the largest independently owned yearbook company in the world, and it ranks among the top ten book manufacturers in the United States.

Curator Walsworth was appointed to the Missouri State Highways and Transportation Commission in 1985 and served as its chairman in 1991-1992. He has also served on a variety of corporate boards.

Vice Chair-elect Cheryl D.S. Walker has chaired the Board of Curators' Physical Facilities and Management Services Committee and has served on the Executive Committee, the Compensation and Human Resources Committee and the Governance Committee. She represents Missouri's First Congressional District.

Curator Walker received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1986 and a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University in 1990.

She is currently President and General Counsel of Obasi Enterprises, LLC. She formerly served as a counsel in the St. Louis office of Bryan Cave LLP, an 850-attorney international law firm that provides counsel in various areas of commercial law, and she remains Of Counsel for the firm. Prior to joining Bryan Cave she served as senior counsel for Deutsche Financial Services Corp., now known as GE Distribution Finance.

Curator Walker is a member of the Tower Grove Park Board of Commissioners. She is also a member of the boards of The Newberry Group, St. Louis Social Venture Partners and The United Way of Greater St. Louis.

Editors:

A photo of Don Walsworth can be found at:

https://umsystem.edu/ums/curators/images/portrait-walsw.jpg

A photo of Cheryl D.S. Walker can be found at:

https://umsystem.edu/ums/curators/images/portrait-walk.jpg

Reviewed 2010-06-16