Stacey Walker is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa who graduated with a degree in Political Science in 2010. After college, he helped launch the LBA Foundation, an education-based nonprofit that works to help at-risk students stay on course to graduation. Walker later moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Case Foundation, a family organization dedicated to empowering people and ideas that can change the world. Walker was also able to work directly with AOL founder and Venture Capitalist Steve Case who served on the President’s Council for Jobs and Economic Competitiveness. Walker played a role in Steve Case’s effort to revitalize America’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through the Startup America Partnership and President Obama’s signature economic legislation, the JOBS Act. While in Washington, D.C., Stacey served as a teaching assistant under Ambassador J. Douglas Holladay who taught a leadership seminar to executive MBA students at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Prior to being elected to the Linn County Board of Supervisors – as the first African American to ever hold the position – Stacey served as the Chief of Staff for Patel Endeavors and Hawkeye Hotels. In this role, he helped execute on growth and development strategy while also managing communications for the company and its subsidiaries. Through his involvement with Patel Endeavors, he has worked alongside the principals of Built By Iowa, a private equity firm that focuses on mentoring and growing Iowa-based startups