Greg Walker-Wilson '89
Executive director, Mountain Microenterprise Fund
Major: Liberal arts/pre-engineering
Best of both worlds. Greg leads Mountain Microenterprise Fund (MMF), which helps low-income individuals, women and minorities start their own small businesses by offering them training, counseling and loans. As executive director, Greg combines his leadership and management expertise with his values of faith and service. “It’s the best of both worlds, taking the analysis and leadership I learned in business to a non-profit to help people make business work for them,” he says. “I have to believe in the bottom line mission of the organization that I work for, and that’s why I’m here.”
View from the summit: In Greg’s nearly eight years at the helm, Mountain Microenterprise has gone from having debt, two employees and a $150,000 budget to 19 employees and a $900,000 budget. It has served more than 2,000 businesses in the mountains of North Carolina. MMF will always face financial challenges because it depends on government and private grants for survival, but Greg’s leadership has proven innovative in helping the cause. For example, he created a subsidiary, Mountain Made, which sells works of art, including some by MMF clients. The proceeds are used to help MMF’s aspiring entrepreneurs.
Missing something. Greg had been a management consultant for Andersen Consulting in Philadelphia with clients that included Fortune 500 companies, state government and a software company. It was during that time he discovered a strong need to believe in what he was doing.
Soul-searching. He left his corporate job and spent several months soul-searching and considering what else he could do. “I was very intentional about figuring that out,” he said. “I have never regretted, nor seen anyone else regret quitting a job because it no longer fits their values. If it doesn’t feed you, fit who you are, you need to find something else, even if it pays less. If you are doing something just for money, that just doesn’t work in the long run.”
Influences. Greg credits his outlook on life to his Mennonite family upbringing and Bluffton University. Both encouraged him to incorporate his values into all areas of his life. “That’s something Bluffton can offer as opposed to a more secular college or university,” he said.
Busted. At Bluffton, Greg was chairman of the Peace Club and was active in student government, but he still found time for Bluffton’s prank tradition. One time in the middle of the night he and some friends took the bust of Menno Simons from the library and left it for people to find the next morning in Marbeck Center among the art exhibits temporarily on display.
Big picture. One of the most influential experiences of his life involved spending two of his elementary school years in Costa Rica and Columbia where he witnessed poverty first hand. He and his wife, Susanne, hope to give their children (Caleb, 7, and Ascher, 5) a similar opportunity one day by serving with an organization like Mennonite Central Committee in a developing country. “I can’t imagine a more important thing than to model your faith and worldview to your children,” he said.
