Rising Tides
US Airways Magazine, August, 2006
Steve Walker is not a matchmaker, but he wants to make sure that the right connections are made. Connections among key thinkers, public and private, in academia and out; connections that will keep Baltimore at the cutting edge of technology.
Walker spent 22 years at the National Security Agency and the Advanced Research Projects Agency before coming to his current role as tech godfather. He is a legend in government circles, thanks to his work on ARPAnet, the breakthrough computer-messaging system and Internet precursor. He went on to found Trusted Information Systems, which became the world's top computer security firm before he sold it for $350 million to Network Associates. He turned that windfall into Walker Ventures, which focuses on early-stage investments, and Steve Walker & Associates, which helps entrepreneurs with sales, marketing, and business planning.
The word Walker would whisper to today's Benjamin Braddock (from The Graduate) is informatics. It's the use of computing to augment humans' ability to think, reason and discover. “It's not rocket science,” quips Walker, “but you can't launch the rocket without it.”
To ensure that informatics creates more jobs in the Baltimore area, Walker is promoting the Informatics Coalition, a volunteer group of leaders from industry, universities and federal labs.
“We have to find a way to connect these folks not as heads of agencies, but scientist to scientist,” Walker says.
Read the entire US Airways article
