Kirt Walker , Board Chair

Kirt Walker Board Chair American Red Cross of Greater Columbus

Kirt Walker is President and Chief Operating Officer of Nationwide Financial. He was named to this position in October 2009.

Kirt has held various leadership positions since joining Allied Insurance (Nationwide’s independent agency channel) in 1986. In these roles, he was accountable for both Life and Property/Casualty sales as well as underwriting. In 1997, Kirt became Regional Vice President of the Rocky Mountain Region and was named Regional Vice President of the Pacific Coast Region in 1998.

Kirt was named President of Allied Insurance in September 2003, President of Nationwide Insurance, Eastern Operations, in March 2006, was elected President of Nationwide Insurance, Exclusive Operations in November 2008, and elected President and COO, Nationwide Insurance, in February 2009.  

A graduate of Iowa State University, Kirt holds a bachelor of arts degree in management. Kirt serves as Chair of the American Red Cross of Greater Columbus. He is also a member of the Board for the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters (AICPCU) and in November, 2009, Kirt became a board member of the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI).   He is also serves on the board of the New Albany Foundation.

While President of Allied, he served as a trustee of Grand View College, a member of the Executive Board of the Greater Des Moines Partnership and a member of the Iowa Business Council. He also served as a board member for United Way of Central Iowa and was co-chair of the United Way Tocqueville Society as well as co-chair of the American Red Cross ( Des Moines chapter) capital campaign. He also chaired the Heart Ball, the largest fund-raising event for the Des Moines chapter of the American Heart Association. In 2005, he was named CEO of the Year by Des Moines Business Journal.