Brett Walker
Electro-Mechanical Control Systems Engineer and Commodity Manager, Allison Transmission
I design, test, and certify the electronics inside electrified commercial powertrains, and I manage the suppliers, spend, and escalations that keep them in production and keep customers running.
M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University
MBA in Governmental Affairs, in progress, Indiana State University
Conexus Rising 30, Class of 2026
Engineering, commodity management, and the business case between them
Seven years across passenger automotive, defense, and commercial hybrid markets, currently on Allison’s eGen Force and eGen Flex electrified powertrain programs.
EMC, compliance, and certification
I built and commissioned Allison’s $100K in-house EMC pre-compliance lab, so control modules and shift selectors get debugged against conducted and radiated limits before they ever go to an outside lab.
I write the compliance matrices, test plans, and statements of work. I’ve grown Allison’s global footprint through certification with regulatory bodies, including European vehicle certification authorities and the Indian government, leading a military certification strategy across the US, India, Sweden, and Italy, plus Conformity of Production submittals for the EU.
Power electronics and hardware
Converters, inverters, and the protection around them: input EMI filters, smart high-side switching, edge-rate control, and PCB layout in Altium and OrCAD.
Designs get a worst-case circuit analysis in MathCAD across temperature, tolerance, and supply transients, and a DFMEA and PFMEA before they leave concept. I’ve led electronics reliability validation (HEMP, gamma, total dose) for defense and mission-critical applications, and the service strategy for IndyGo’s hybrid bus battery packs.
Commodity management
I manage over $70M in annual purchasing spend, owning purchase price variance and capital tooling versus NRE decisions. I’m the primary point of contact for supply chain escalations and quality defects, and I lead customer containment through root-cause resolution to protect uptime and reliability.
I negotiate remanufacturing of high-voltage electric generator and motor cores, align strategic pricing with suppliers and customers to hit revenue targets, manage IEEPA tariff impacts and reimbursement, and work with dealers on aftermarket emissions solutions. Earlier, at North American Lighting, strategic sourcing delivered $1.2M in cost avoidance.
Featured work
Two engineering builds, one market analysis, and a look at how I work with customers, suppliers, and dealers, all asking the same question: how does a piece of technology earn its place in a vehicle, a portfolio, or a customer’s operation?
From requirement to compliant hardwareNew
Input-filter stability, worst-case analysis, transient protection, and how I find and fix emissions in a switching supply, with working calculators.
Read the notes Power electronicsAutomotive grid-connected inverter design
A three-phase, two-level inverter for grid-connected vehicle applications, built around power factor, EMI, and THD targets, modeled and simulated in MATLAB/Simulink.
View the project Market analysisDrivetrain consolidation and early-stage investment
Four recent transactions across the commercial-duty drivetrain space, and the investment logic for entering before a company ever reaches an IPO.
Read the case study Customers and aftersalesCustomer relationships and aftersales supportNew
Escalations and customer containment, uptime and reliability, dealer and aftermarket work, $70M+ in spend, and strategic pricing with suppliers and customers.
See how I work
Conexus Rising 30, Class of 2026
Named to Conexus Indiana’s Class of 2026, honoring Indiana’s most impactful professionals in advanced manufacturing and logistics. Allison Transmission nominated me for building its $100,000 in-house electromagnetic testing lab, work Allison credits with eliminating multiple electronic product design iterations.
Let’s talk power electronics, electrification, sales and aftersales, or venture-side technology roles.
Based in Indianapolis, Indiana.