![[photo, Robert L. Walker, Maryland Secretary of Agriculture]](/msa/mdmanual/10dag/former/images/1198-1-03327b.jpg)
Robert L. Walker
Acting Secretary of Business & Economic Development, 2015
Deputy Secretary of Business & Economic Development, 2013-15
Chief Operating Officer, Department of Business & Economic Development, 2012
Assistant Secretary for Business & Enterprise Development, Department of Business & Economic Development, 2009-12
Director, Office of International Investment & Trade, Department of Business & Economic Development, 2008-09
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, 1985 to 1991. Began first cooperative program between leading Russian agricultural university, Moscow Agriculture Academy and University of Maryland College Park, 1987.
Secretary of Agriculture, November 1991 to 1994. Member, Governor's Executive Council, 1991-94. Board of Regents, University of Maryland System, 1991-94. Member, Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, 1991-94; Maryland Food Center Authority, 1991-94; Scenic and Wild Rivers Review Board, 1991-94; State Soil Conservation Committee, 1991-94; Interdepartmental Advisory Committee for Minority Affairs, 1991-94; State Use Industries Advisory Committee, 1991-94; Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission, 1991-94; Governor's Council on the Chesapeake Bay, 1991-94; Mid-Atlantic Poultry Health Council, 1991-94.
Served in Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1994-97, as Department's Policy Advisor to Government of Ukraine. Director, U.S. Agricultural Trade Officer, Moscow, Russia, 1997-2001.
Chief Administrative Officer, Anne Arundel County, 2001-06. Chair, State Board of Elections, 2007-12.
Deputy Secretary of Business & Economic Development January 2013 to January 6, 2015. Acting Secretary of Business & Economic Development, January 6-21, 2015.
Born in 1949. Attended Baltimore City College; Towson University, B.A. (political science). Senior Fellow, National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy, Washington, DC. Former vice-president, Esskay, 1974-86. Former consultant for World Bank's Pre-Export Guarantee Program in Moldova and market reform initiatives in Central Asia; Congressional Research Service; Office of International Cooperation and Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture; the Stanley Foundation; USAID; OECD; OICD. Past chair, World Trade Committee, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Past vice-president, Southern U.S. Trade Association. Honor Award for Excellence, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. International Honor Award and Administrator's Special Award, Foreign Agricultural Service. Chayanov Gold Medal, Moscow Agricultural Academy. Award of Gratitude, Patriarch of Russia, Alexey II. Married; three children.
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