One career done, another taking shape: longtime Hewlett-Packard executive Robert Walker is a relatively new member of FEI, but, now retired, he has thrown his energies into service for the association and several corporate boards.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Fei chairs

No one can say that Robert R. Walker has taken the time-honored path to the chairmanship of FEI, which he assumed July 1 for a term through June 2006.

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Bob Walker doesn't have an accounting degree, never worked at a public accounting firm--though he applied for a job with one once--and never worked as a corporate controller with responsibility for accounting policy. An electrical engineer as an undergraduate, he got an MBA and started his career as a financial analyst. And he even spent time as a chief information officer, at Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), where he spent the vast bulk of his career.

Walker's FEI experience is even more striking: he joined as national Treasurer before he ever joined a chapter, having been recruited by then-Chairman David Young and bypassing the usual climb through chapter, area and national leadership board posts. After his service as Treasurer, he stepped into the leadership rotation as vice-chair last year when Michael Nemser stepped out.

At 55, Walker is four years out of the workforce, having retired as CFO of Agilent Technologies, the huge equipment maker spun off from HP in the 1990s. His arrival at FEI came in 2001, the same year he left Agilent.

Talk to Walker at any length--he talks readily and knowledgably on a lot of subjects--and you realize that he's a man with genuine energy, passion and considerable intellectual gifts. He's serving on the boards of three Nasdaq-listed technology companies, and he views his work with FEI as a way to continue a service tradition that he saw personified by the leaders of Hewlett-Packard.

"Part of my inclination is to serve on public company boards right now, which you can argue is a very dumb thing to do," he says, given the liability threats. "If we're going to restore the confidence of the American investor in companies, somebody's going to have to serve on these boards. And I get a value from having worked with [HP co-founder] Dave Packard around that kind of community service."

While he has time on his hands, Walker says he also feels energized by new challenges and intellectual curiosity. "I'm very eclectic. I've never developed a huge passion about one thing. That would help explain why my current status of not being employed is working so well. I can go off and dabble with a bunch of stuff that I never got to do before."

He's made a clear impression on others in FEI. "Bob has a style that seeks to fully understand each subject," says Mary...