Jonathan Walker is a Managing Director at Secretariat Economists LLC, the successor organization to Economists Incorporated. Before joining Economists Incorporated, Dr. Walker had been a strategy consultant. Before that, he was a visiting research fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. There, he participated in antitrust enforcement and conducted research concerning the commercial banking industry. Dr. Walker earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Upon graduation, he earned National Science Foundation and American Economics Association Fellowships to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a Ph.D. in economics.
Dr. Walker was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Economists Incorporated for 18 years prior to its transition to Secretariat Economists. As President of Economists Incorporated, Dr. Walker oversaw approximately 30 Ph.D. economists plus other professionals and support staff in the conduct of economic research and the provision of economic consulting services throughout the world. In addition to his role managing the firm, Dr. Walker has often been retained personally to provide opinion testimony at U.S. and international arbitrations and in U.S. courts and to consult in a non-testifying capacity on a variety of economic topics.
Dr. Walker’s consulting engagements most often concern antitrust, employment or damages questions that arise in the context of litigation or regulation. Dr. Walker’s antitrust work has addressed topics such as merger analysis, market definition, competitive effects, antitrust injury and quantification of damages. In the employment realm, he has conducted statistical analyses to measure disparities in employment outcomes across demographic groups. Dr. Walker’s non-antitrust compensatory damages work has most often concerned contract damages, lost profits, disgorgement and diminution in value. Dr. Walker has also investigated and testified about class certification as it related to antitrust, employment and damages claims. Dr. Walker has been retained on numerous occasions to consider punitive damages, including optimal fines and the adequacy or inadequacy of other incentives, besides punitive awards, to deter future wrongdoing.
Dr. Walker’s case experience spans a variety of industries including but not limited to agriculture, sports, energy, financial services, education, healthcare, manufacturing, natural resources, professional services, real estate and transportation.
Dr. Walker has been retained by plaintiffs and defendants alike. On the plaintiff side, Dr. Walker’ clients have included individuals, unions, corporations, and government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Labor. On the defendant side, Dr. Walker has also been retained by individuals, corporations, and government agencies as well as not-for-profit charitable organizations, not-for-profit corporations and sports leagues.
In addition to professional work, Dr. Walker is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Marin Food Bank. He is currently the Vice Chair, and he has served on its Finance, Audit and Governance Committees as well as various task forces.