Donald Walker

Don is a Managing Director and Founder of Arbor Partners. He has been an active investor in information technology companies for over 15 years.

Don served as Vice President of Sales and as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Comshare from 1974 to 1996. During this time, he successfully directed the company through the well-publicized transitions from timesharing to mainframe software and then from mainframe to client/server software.

Don was a key player in the introduction of executive information systems (EIS), a new software category that grew to a significant market leadership position. Don was also instrumental in moving Comshare into vertical specialization by leading its thrust into decision support and supply chain management software for the retail industry. His successful integration of two acquisitions and his proven track record of partnering with other software companies helped Comshare to increase market share while creating barriers for the competition.

In 1997, Don was a founding partner of Arbor Partners. He was also a private investor in several start-up companies including Network Express, which went public in 1994. Don served on the Boards of Directors for CMS Technologies, Bluespring Software, Cohesia, and Sircon Corporation, while continuing to serve on the Boards of Directors for Knowlagent and Bulbs.com.

Don is also an advisor to The University of Michigan’s Wolverine Venture Fund and a former Board member of the New Enterprise Forum.

Don attended Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he studied business. He received a BA in Philosophy from St. Paul’s College in Washington, DC.