Darryl Walston

Notable work and positions

NPR - Senior Vice President, People Team
NPR - Interim Chief People Officer
Discovery Inc. - Director, People and Culture
Lockheed Martin - Senior HR Business Partner

Biography

Darryl Walston is senior vice president of NPR's People Team, a role NPR president and CEO Katherine Maher named him to in January 2025, reporting to chief financial officer Daphne Kwon. Walston joined NPR's People Team in 2022 and served as its interim lead, including a year as interim chief people officer, before being elevated to the senior vice president role. He brings more than 15 years of multi-industry human resources experience at both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, having previously worked in HR leadership roles at Discovery Inc., where he served as director of people and culture, and at Lockheed Martin as a senior HR business partner in the aerospace and defense sector; he also held an HR generalist role earlier in his career at The Aspen Institute. Walston holds a B.S. in business administration from Bowie State University.

Career highlights

• Senior Vice President, People Team Named by NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher, January 2025, after a year serving as interim Chief People Officer.
• Cross-sector HR leadership Prior roles spanning aerospace and defense (Lockheed Martin), media (Discovery Inc.), and nonprofit policy (The Aspen Institute).