Ann Walker Marchant

Public relations executive Ann Walker Marchant was born on August 18, 1960 in Tuskegee, Alabama to Clarice Dibble Walker, IV and George Henry Walker. After graduating from Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., Marchant enrolled in Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York and attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia during her junior year. She received her B.A. degree in liberal arts with a concentration in political science from Sarah Lawrence College in 1982.

After graduating college, Marchant worked for the City of Atlanta’s Parks and Recreation Department as a counselor and program director, helping organize community centers for young people across the city. In 1983, she left this position to pursue her modeling career after winning a contract with Elite Model Management. Marchant modeled for Coca-Cola and the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, among others. She began her career in communications at Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm in New York City. Marchant was a press secretary for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. From 1993 until 1999, she served as a deputy assistant and director of research and special projects in the Clinton administration’s White House communications office. Marchant also developed the communications practice for the Luxembourg-based company, ImagiNations S.A., and served as executive vice president and director of global business development for Weber Shandwick International. In 2000, Marchant founded The Walker Marchant Group, a boutique public relations firm in Washington, D.C. that provided strategic communications counsel and issues management to global corporate brands like Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson and Johnson and the Toyota Motor Corporation.

In addition to her career as a public relations executive, Marchant served on several boards of directors, including the Washington Ballet, Africare, Knock Out Abuse Against Women and the Howard University School of Communications Board of Visitors. In 2011, she joined the George Washington University Board of Trustees.
Marchant has one daughter, Rebecca.

Ann Walker Marchant was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 21, 2019.