Walter J. Sarkees, CBA
Managing Director & Chairman of the Board of Advisors
President Delaware Valley Chapter

Walter J. Sarkees is a Managing Director with the American Institute of Certified Board Advisors and lead’s the organization’s executive training programs.

Walt is a highly experienced business executive with over 30 years of executive coaching, board advisory, corporate governance, organizational development, professional training and executive search experience. He has worked with large, multi-national corporations and high-tech companies, as well as both professional and financial service firms. Walt has been a member of the board of directors of several privately-held companies along with not-for-profit organizations. He has extensive experience working in turnaround situations and has functioned as a valued advisor to numerous private equity funds in assembling the management teams for their portfolio companies. He has advised the boards of many Fortune 1000 and large privately-held companies in resolving serious, material integrity issues involving senior executives.

For over a decade, Walt has been the CEO of Smithbridge Consulting, Inc., a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOB) that specializes in management and board consulting as well as executive search.  He has advised senior management and boards in the development of growth plans, creation of job roles and responsibilities. He has helped to formulate innovative compensation structures as well as strategies to effectively deal with serious organizational crisis.  Walt is known for his holistic style that incorporates the many aspects of achieving both professional and personal success in the work environment without compromising integrity.

During his career, Walt has directed the hiring, training, and staff development for both large and small organizations. He has held senior leadership positions at Cap Gemini, PricewaterhouseCoopers (formerly Coopers & Lybrand), KPMG and the Wharton MBA School. As regional CEO of Chubb Computer Services, he was responsible for the creation and development of the system and network engineering curriculum that became the firm’s most successful program.

Walt’s approach to serious, game changing issues has allowed him to build close working relationships with many senior executives and board members.  As a board advisor, Walt has developed a unique approach to organizational issues that allowed enterprises with whom he has worked to move quickly to secure market success and insure integrity.  He is the author of Jump Start, an innovative approach to conducting assessment/diagnosis of both profit and not-for-profit organizations. Walt has provided many organizations with strategies and tools that allow management to minimize waste, fraud and abuse by increasing “value-added” activity and enhancing effective service to customers.  He is widely recognized for his leadership mentoring accomplishments.

Walt received a Master’s in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Political Science from Widener University.  He is also an adjunct professor of management at Neumann University where he teaches organizational behavior and general management classes. Walt is a Certified Board Advisor.