Image courtesy of The Chamber ALX
Jen Walker has been named 2026 Business Leader of the Year by The Chamber ALX
Jen Walker grew up in Georgia in a town where she knew the shop owners by name and they knew hers — where people stopped on the sidewalk to ask how you were doing and waited for the answer. She has spent 30 years in Del Ray looking for the same thing, and mostly finding it.
The Chamber ALX has named Walker, team lead of the Jen Walker Team at Corcoran McEnearney, its 2026 Business Leader of the Year. She'll be honored Oct. 28 at the Best in Business Awards at the Westin Alexandria Old Town.
Walker has sold real estate in Alexandria for more than 25 years, all of it with the same brokerage, and has built a reputation as a blunt, hard-nosed advocate for her clients — someone who will tell you what a house is worth rather than what you want to hear. She describes the work as customer service rather than sales, and the distinction shows up in how the team operates.
Her name turns up around Del Ray as often as it does on listings. Walker founded Cinema Del Ray, the neighborhood's outdoor movie series and has worked with the Del Ray Business Association, the Alexandria YMCA, Rebuilding Together Alexandria and the Campagna Center. The DRBA gave her its Heart of Del Ray award in 2010; the city named her a Living Legend in 2017. Her tagline — "Spread Kindness, Build Community" — appears on enough tote bags and yard signs around the neighborhood to qualify as local infrastructure.
The professional accolades have piled up alongside: repeated Top Agent and Best 100 placements in Washingtonian, a Best Real Estate Agent nod from the Wall Street Journal, RealTrends' No. 1 small team in Virginia and the top-producing team in Alexandria three years running.
Unlike the category awards, which are chosen by a panel of past winners, Business Leader of the Year is selected by the Chamber's executive committee.
2026 Best in Business Awards
- Presented by Burke & Herbert Bank
- Wednesday, Oct. 28, 6–9 p.m.
- Westin Alexandria Old Town, 400 Courthouse Square
- $130 members | $160 prospective members
- Register | Sponsorship opportunities available
