Walden "Wally" O'Dell is the former chief executive officer and former chairman of the board of Diebold, a US-based security and financial products company.
He was an active fundraiser for George W. Bush's re-election campaign and wrote in a fund-raising letter dated August 13, 2003, that he was committed "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President."[1] His involvement with the campaign raised concerns that, as the CEO of the largest manufacturer of electronic voting equipment, he would have been in a position to attempt to manipulate the results of the presidential election of 2004.
In December 2005, O'Dell left the company amid a United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into insider trading at the company.
O'Dell holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in electrical engineering from Saint Louis University, and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Ohio State University.[2] [3]