Carolina University’s 2024 commencement speaker will be United States Congressman and CU alumnus, Mark Walker. Congressman Walker worked in finance before sensing God’s call to ministry. He graduated from Carolina University (then Piedmont Baptist College) and served sixteen years as a pastor.
In 2014, Walker launched an improbable but successful campaign for Congress. He became the first member elected Chairman of the largest Caucus in Congress after only one term. Walker served on various committees including being named the ranking member on the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee. In 2018, Congressman Walker was elected Vice Chair of the full Republican House Conference. In addition, Congressman Walker served five years as Co-Chair of the bi-cameral Prayer Caucus.
Walker most recently pursued a new district for U.S. Congress but chose to forgo a runoff campaign, accepting his current position as Director of Faith Outreach for the 2024 Trump campaign. Walker is also the president of his political business consulting company, Advancing Hope. He and his wife Kelly, a Family Nurse Practitioner and flight trauma specialist, have been married for thirty years and have three children.
