Biography

JAMES D. WALTON is the Founder, President and Managing Partner of Global Recruiters of Oak Park. He draws upon a stellar background in tactical sales and marketing to provide stability and strategic leadership to the firm. Mr. Walton is a dedicated student of the corporate culture and an astute practitioner of human capital management. Much more than a results-driven executive recruiter, Mr. Walton is a trusted advisor and confidante to the candidates and employers who engage him.

Throughout his exemplary career, Mr. Walton has displayed a rock-solid work ethic and an uncompromising commitment to excellence, qualities that his father, an underground iron ore miner, instilled in him. His leadership style, rooted in an athletic upbringing, took shape on high school football fields in upstate New York where his hard work culminated in championships and, ultimately, a scholarship to the University of Vermont. Mr. Walton’s collegiate aspirations of teaching elementary school and eventually becoming an educational administrator were diverted to sales.

Prior to starting Global Recruiters of Oak Park in 2007, Mr. Walton served as Vice President of Sales for the Illinois Division of Corporate Express, Inc. Previously, he held the position of Vice President of Global Sales for the Milford, Massachusetts-based Thermo Electron Corporation. He arrived there following an impressive, twenty-four year tenure at Abbott Laboratories in Abbott Park, Illinois where he left an indelible executive footprint and excelled in a leadership role in sales, marketing and recruitment.

Mr. Walton is a graduate of the University of Vermont, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education, and completed the requirements of the Advance Executive Program in General Management at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He serves on the Board of Directors for Life Link and the Clara Abbott Foundation, and is a member of the Finance Committee for the National Sales Network. Mr. Walton is also a former long-serving key member of the Jesse Jackson, Jr. Campaign for Congress.

Mr. Walton resides in Oak Park, Illinois with his wife and three children.

Expertise