Charlie Baker Net Worth, Family, Wife, Education, Children, Age, Biography, Political Career

Charlie Baker Biography

Charles Duane Baker Jr. is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since January 8, 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massachusetts and served ten years as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Baker grew up in Needham, Massachusetts, earned an AB from Harvard University in 1979, and later obtained an MBA from Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management. In 1991, he became Massachusetts Undersecretary of Health and Human Services under Governor Bill Weld. In 1992, he was appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services of Massachusetts. He later served as Secretary of Administration and Finance under Weld and his successor, Paul Cellucci.

After working in government for eight years, Baker left to become CEO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and later Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a nonprofit health benefits company. During this time he served three years as a selectman of Swampscott and considered a run for Massachusetts governor in 2006. He stepped down in July 2009 to run for governor on a platform of fiscal conservatism and cultural liberalism. He was unopposed in the Republican primary but lost the 2010 general election to Democratic incumbent Deval Patrick.

In 2014, Baker ran for governor again and narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Martha Coakley. In 2018, he was reelected handily over Democratic challenger Jay Gonzalez with 67% of the vote, the largest vote share in a Massachusetts gubernatorial election since 1994. Nonpartisan polls consistently list him among the nations most popular governors.

As of 2021, Baker and his lieutenant Karyn Polito are the only members of the Republican Party to hold statewide office in Massachusetts.

Baker attended Harvard College and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, where, by his own admission, he was a C-student-turned-B-student. He later said he went to Harvard "because of the brand" and wrote, "With a few exceptions... those four years are ones I would rather forget." While at Harvard, Baker played on the JV basketball team. He then attended Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, where he received an MBA. After graduating, Baker served as corporate communications director for the Massachusetts High Technology Council.

Charlie Baker Net Worth

Charlie Baker Net Worth is $ 26 Million in 2022.

Charlie Baker Family, Parents

Baker was born on November 13, 1956, in Elmira, New York. Of English ancestry, his family has been in what is now the northeastern United States since the Colonial era. He is the fourth generation in the family to bear the forename Charles.

His great-grandfather Charles D. Baker (1846–1934) was an assistant United States attorney in New York, who served several years in the New York State Assembly. His grandfather Charles D. Baker Jr. (c. 1890–1971) was a prominent politician in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

His father, Charles Duane Baker (born 1928), a Harvard graduate, was a buyer for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. His mother, Alice Elizabeth "Betty" (née Ghormley), remained at home.

Baker grew up with two younger brothers, Jonathan and Alex, in Needham, Massachusetts, before moving to Rockport. He grew up playing football, hockey, and baseball; he has described his childhood as "pretty all-American."

Bakers father was a conservative Republican and his mother a liberal Democrat; the family was often drawn into political arguments at the dinner table. In 1965 his father became vice president of Harbridge House, a Boston management consulting firm.

Charlie Baker Wife, Children

Baker married Lauren Cardy Schadt, another Kellogg alumnus, in 1987. Schadt had been working as an assistant account executive at a New York advertising agency. She is the daughter of James P. Schadt, the former CEO of Readers Digest and Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages. They live in Swampscott, Massachusetts, with their three children.

Charlie Baker Career and Achievement

State Government Career

In the late 1980s, Baker was hired as codirector of the newly founded Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based libertarian think tank. Lovett C. "Pete" Peters, the institutes founder, later recommended him to Bill Weld, the incoming Republican Governor of Massachusetts. Weld took office in January 1991 and hired him as Undersecretary of Health and Human Services.

In cutting back state programs and social services, Baker caused controversy from early on. However, some government officials called him an "innovator" and "one of the big stars among the secretariats and the agencies." Baker was promoted to Secretary of Health and Human Services in November 1992 and was later made Secretary of Administration and Finance, a position he continued to hold after Weld resigned in 1997 and Paul Cellucci took over as acting governor. In mid-1998, Cellucci offered him the lieutenant governor spot on the ticket, but Baker declined.

As Secretary of Administration and Finance, Baker was a main architect of the Big Dig financing plan. In 1997 the federal government was planning to cut funding for the Big Dig by $300 million per year. The state set up a trust and sold Grant Anticipation Notes (GANs) to investors. The notes were secured by promising future federal highway funds. As federal highway dollars are awarded to Massachusetts, the money is used to pay off the GANs.

According to a 2007 blue-ribbon panel, the cost overruns of the Big Dig, combined with Bakers plan for financing them, ultimately left the state transportation system underfunded by $1 billion a year. Baker defended his plan as responsible, effective, and based on previous government officials good-faith assurances that the Big Dig would be built on time and on budget. However, as he was developing the plan, Baker had also had to take into account that Governor Cellucci was dead-set against any new taxes or fees. Former State Transportation Secretary James J. Kerasiotes, the public face of the Big Dig, praised Bakers work on the financing and said, "We were caught in a confluence of events," adding that "Charlie had a job to do, and he did his job and he did it well."

Health Industry Career

In September 1998, Baker left state government and became CEO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a New England–based physicians group. In May 1999, he was named president and CEO of Harvard Vanguards parent company, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a non-profit health benefits organization. The company had lost $58 million in 1998 and it was predicted to lose over $90 million in 1999. Baker responded by cutting the workforce by 90 people, increasing premiums, establishing new contracts with Massachusetts physicians, reassessing the companys financial structure, and outsourcing its information technology. During his tenure as CEO, the company had 24 profitable quarters in a row and earned recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance as its choice for Americas Best Health Plan for five consecutive years.

In mid-2007, Baker was invited to join the board of trustees of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Because of his role in the insurance business, the appointment caused controversy, but he and the hospitals CEO, Paul F. Levy, denied any conflict of interest.

Return to Politics

Baker ran for the board of selectmen of Swampscott, Massachusetts, in 2004, and won by a "landslide." While on the board, he was noted for a businesslike approach to local issues; his fellow selectmen described him as "low-key" and budget-oriented. After serving three years, he chose not to run for reelection in 2007.

In mid-2005, there were indications that Governor Mitt Romney would not seek reelection in 2006. Baker was widely considered a top contender for the Republican nomination. Analysts wrote that he was unlikely to defeat Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who had already announced her candidacy. Healey was the 2–1 favorite among Republican voters in a Boston Globe poll and had much stronger financial backing. Furthermore, ethics guidelines at Harvard Pilgrim prevented Baker from carrying out any political fundraising while he held an executive position. After giving the idea "serious consideration", in August 2005 he announced that he would not run, citing the burden it would be on his family and the difficulty of campaigning against Healey.

In late 2006, Baker was named to a Budget and Finance working group for incoming Governor Deval Patricks transition committee. In 2008, he joined the Public Advisory Board of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP) at Saint Anselm College.

Governor of Massachusetts (2015–Present)

Baker was inaugurated on January 8, 2015, as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts at the Massachusetts State House in Boston. Baker was inaugurated for his second term on January 3, 2019. He is considered a liberal or moderate Republican and has been a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump. He supported the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump that began in September 2019. After the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Baker called for Trump to be removed from office.

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