January 25, 2008, St. Louis, Mo. -  Webster University has elected Ambassador George H. Walker III chair of the Board of Trustees effective mid-April 2008 through mid-April 2009, and Mark Burkhart chair for the following two years. Walker and Burkhart follow two years of successful service by Douglas E. Hill, Senior Partner at Edward Jones.

     Walker has been actively involved with Webster University since 1974 when he first joined the university’s board of trustees. In addition to serving several terms on Webster’s board, Ambassador Walker was elected board chairman in 1987, a position he held until 1992.  He was named a life trustee of the university in 2003 and currently serves as chairman of the Advisory Board of Webster’s School of Business and Technology.

     Walker holds an undergraduate degree from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard University’s Law School.  He has received honorary degrees from Webster University, Harris-Stowe State University and recently from two Hungarian universities–the University of Pecs and St. Istvan University.  Walker served as the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary from 2003 until 2006.  He also has been an active and concerned community citizen in St. Louis as the founder of Citizens for Home Rule, chairman of the now Downtown St. Louis Partnership, co-chair along with his wife, Carol, of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way, the former board chair of the Missouri Historical Society, a commissioner and treasurer of the St. Louis Science Center and a member of many other boards including the Urban League and the Siteman Cancer Center Advisory Board.

     Since 1993, Mark Burkhart has served as president and chief executive officer of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate firms. He will lead Webster University’s Board of Trustees for a two-year term beginning mid- April 2009.

     Burkhart joined Colliers Turley Martin Tucker in 1977 as a property administrator and was named vice president in 1981. He has served as a member of and in leadership positions on many boards including chair of the Regional Business Council, the Regional Commerce and Growth Association, the Downtown St. Louis Partnership, United Way of Greater St. Louis and the United Way’s Alexis de Tocqueville Society, the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis, Our Lady of the Pillar Catholic School and Confluence Greenway.  Burkhart also served on the University of Missouri’s finance department advisory board and the development board of its school of business.

     Mark Burkhart holds a B. S. in business administration from the University of Missouri –Columbia and is a Certified Property Manager (CPM) and a Real Property Administrator (RPA).

     Webster University (www.webster.edu) is an international, multi-campus university, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.  Founded in 1915 as a small private college, Webster now offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs through five schools and colleges.  The university has grown into an international network of campuses that includes 108 domestic and international campuses.  The student population of more than 20,000 men and women ranges in age from traditional college-age students to adult learners, and represents more than 100 nationalities.  The university is committed to excellence in teaching, to joining theory and practice, to small class sizes, and to educating students to be lifelong, independent learners, fully prepared to participate in an increasingly international society.

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