Reid Walker

Founder, Walker Youngbird Foundation

Recruitment & Governance Committee | Investment Committee

Terms served: 2025-2028

Career

Reid Walker is a strategic communications leader, nonprofit founder, and advocate for Native representation in education, the arts, and public life.

He founded the Walker Youngbird Foundation, which supports Native American and Indigenous artists through mentorship, direct funding, and strategic connections to museums and galleries.

He served in the U.S. Senate, first with the Committee on Indian Affairs, where he helped advance legislation on healthcare, energy, and tribal policy. He later joined the office of Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, overseeing communications strategy on a range of national issues. His work included building bipartisan support for a $3 billion low-income housing initiative and leading high-profile public engagement efforts, including a nationally televised CNN town hall on tax policy.

Walker is a senior partner at the OCR Network, a consultancy and think tank focused on corporate reputation and stakeholder trust. Earlier in his career, he held senior communications roles at Honeywell, T-Mobile, and Lenovo, leading global teams on issues spanning crisis response, brand strategy, and public affairs.

Community

An enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, Walker is originally from North Dakota and now divides his time between Washington, D.C., and New York City. He and his family maintain a ranch on the Fort Berthold Reservation. He has two daughters and two grandchildren, and he established the Hans Walker Jr. Memorial Scholarship at UND in honor of his father to offer support for select incoming Native American law students.