David M. Walker, Chief Executive Officer, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Where’s he going: Mr. Walker, 58, is leaving the foundation this month to start a new nonprofit group, the Comeback America Initiative, in Fairfield, Conn. The group will advocate specific solutions to solve the nation’s fiscal challenges. The Peterson foundation has pledged $3-million over three years to the new effort.

Biggest accomplishments: “Getting the foundation off to a fast start and putting it on the map,” says Mr. Walker, who joined the foundation in March 2008. The foundation, which was created in 2007 with a $1-billion pledge from Mr. Peterson, a financier, seeks to raise awareness about the escalating national deficit and other fiscal issues.

Biggest challenges: Being a one-man band. Mr. Walker, the foundation’s first employee, wore dual hats of top administrator and main mouthpiece. “I gave 400 speeches in 38 states in a little over two years,” he says. In August the foundation hired Paula Van Ness, former president of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, as its first chief operating officer, to manage its day-to-day business.

Background: Before he joined the foundation Mr. Walker was comptroller general of the United States, where he led the Government Accountability Office for nearly a decade.

Salary: In the low to mid six-figures, he says, declining to give a more specific figure. Peterson Management, Mr. Peterson’s personal office, paid Mr. Walker’s salary, which he says is commensurate with foundations of similar sizes. The foundation has about $400-million in assets.

Goals for his new job: He plans to get involved in a broader array of fiscal issues, including how the United States can cut defense spending without compromising national security. He wants, he says, “to make the case about the seriousness of our challenge and to talk in specific terms on solutions, so we can avoid a much bigger economic crisis than the one we had recently.”