Yale School of Management - Mark D. Walton '79

"Yale SOM granted me much more than a classic business school education. A top-tier faculty and a cohesive group of interesting students, coupled with the opportunity to explore the greater Yale community, made my experience perpetually stimulating and rewarding. Throughout my career, while at CBS or as an entrepreneur, I have valued the skill set I attained there along with the professional and personal friendships I developed. Over twenty-five years later, I can still say that I made the best choice."

Mr. Walton is executive vice president for sponsorship and corporate development at the Africa Channel, a new independent cable television network that brings television viewers around the world closer to daily life on the African continent.

In his role, Mr. Walton is responsible for all advertising sales and sponsorship activities as well as with developing relationships with key organizations operating in the African arena. He is also the liaison with a number of African countries.

Prior to joining the Africa Channel, Mr. Walton was president and CEO of Onyx Media Group International, a New York–based advertising sales and program distribution company that he co-founded.

Mr. Walton spent more than ten years with the CBS Television Network in New York holding various management positions in sales, marketing, and finance. He was the head of marketing for independent film distributor KJM3, which successfully distributed Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust and has been an account manager at D’Arcy, MacManus & Masius and a staff writer for Encore newsmagazine.

Among his other affiliations, Mr. Walton is an adjunct instructor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business and serves on the board of directors for both the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center and Sister Cities International. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Yale School of Management.

Mr. Walton holds a BS in journalism from Boston University and received a master’s from the Yale School of Management.