Candidate: Brad Baker

Brad Baker Biography Highlights:

Brad Baker was appointed by President Reagan as a White House Fellow, Acting Executive Secretary of the US Treasury, and Executive Secretary of the Resolution Trust Committee Oversight Board (Fellow Board members included Jack Kemp, Alan Greenspan, and Nick Brady). 

He was appointed by Governor Bush to Executive Director (CEO) of Florida Housing Finance Corporation - the agency tasked with distributing over $1 billion for affordable housing. Florida Trend put me on the cover for my organizational clean up. 

Recently, Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer appointed Mr. Baker as Deputy Secretary of Commerce for the State of Kansas. 

He was appointed by Governor Scott to the New College Board of Trustees and currently serves on the Sarasota Airport Advisory Board. 

As a businessman, Mr Baker has taken three companies public and managed large organizations through explosive growth.  One of the companies was a medical company that developed a cutting edge breast mammography diagnostic device. 

Mr. Baker's first experience at the Sarasota Memorial was when he was placed there as an intern while at Pine View.  He spent a month in each department - computers, food service, surgery, admissions, union negotiations, etc.  Years later he was appointed as a director of the SMH computer side by side corporation. 

Mr. Baker has had extensive experience as a businessman and wants to share that experience with the Sarasota community. 
 

A more complete biography is below:  

Mr. Baker has distinguished himself as a leader, manager, and strategist who has successfully guided several companies through explosive growth.  Currently, Mr. Baker is working on several projects in Florida to build affordable, workforce housing.  He is developing a community of tiny homes in Florida, using his expertise to build a green, sustainable housing community.  While in Washington, DC, Mr. Baker promulgated Section 42 of the IRC into the Federal Register (tax credit housing) that promoted affordable housing.  He then developed several tax credit developments in Kansas City, totaling over $25 million dollars (2000 dollars).   Mr. Baker is actively developing a retail strip center in North Port, Florida consisting of a hotel, C-Store, and fast food.  He maintains several credentials, including LEED AP BD+C, Florida Class B Commercial Contractor, and Florida Real Estate Broker’s License.  

In 2018, Governor Jeff Colyer MD, appointed Mr. Baker to Deputy Secretary of the Kansas Department of Commerce where he served in 2018 and 2019.  He brought his entrepreneurial skills and strategic thinking to Kansas, including his passion for aviation. 

As CEO of Nexus Biometrics, Inc., Mr. Baker founded one of the leading fingerprint biometric companies that is changing the way children are kept safe.   

In March 2001, Mr. Baker joined fellow White House Fellow, Charles Garcia to start Sterling Financial, Inc. as head of their online division, www.myprivates.com.  That company was tasked with developing an online marketplace for private placements.  While at Sterling, he helped guide the company through explosive growth from a few offices to over 60 with over $30 million in sales.  

In 1996, Mr. Baker sold his Internet Service Provider to Comcast Cable and launched the cable modem business for Comcast.  He left Comcast to become the General Partner of several commercial and residential real estate partnerships, and to operate a construction and management company that developed over $20 million in affordable housing tax credit properties. Due to his success in this venture, in October 1999, Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed Mr. Baker to become Executive Director of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, a public/private state corporation responsible for granting almost $1 billion in government grants to promote affordable housing. While there he was responsible for millions of dollars in savings as he made the government agency more efficient. Florida Trend magazine profiled Mr. Baker as their February 2000 cover story, where he appeared with an oversized broom in his hands, in an article called "Clean Sweep" detailing the steps he was taking to clean up the agency.   At this same time, Mr. Baker was elected to the Board of Odyssey Marine (NASDAQ OMEX), a public company that the press has written several articles on about their recent shipwreck treasure explorations and underwater mining  

The Young Entrepreneurs Organization named Brad Baker one of the 100 top entrepreneurs in the United States. In 1985, The Florida Business Journal selected his company, Tech.Time, Inc. (Nasdq TTME) as one of the ten outstanding publicly held companies in Florida. Money magazine, Venture, and Nation's Business have recognized his accomplishments nationally, and he was identified by Florida Trend magazine, a leading business publication in Florida, as a "Floridian to Watch in the Next 10 Years." 

In 1995, Mr. Baker founded NetLine Communications, Inc., and implemented one of Florida’s first frame relay networks to provide Internet access throughout the state. One year later, Comcast Cable acquired NetLine Communications as the foundation for its successful @Home broadband cable division. Brad joined Comcast and served as Director of Business Development until 1997.

In 1988, when he was 28, he received a presidential appointment from President Ronald Reagan to serve as one of the youngest White House Fellows ever selected, where he worked as a Special Assistant for the Treasury Secretary. In 1989, President George Bush established the Resolution Trust Corporation ("RTC"), a governmental entity designed to save, restructure and reorganize the entire thrift banking industry. President Bush appointed Brad Baker as one of four individuals to serve on its Executive Board. Mr. Baker was appointed to serve as the Corporate Secretary of the RTC and at various periods during his association served as Acting Executive Secretary of the United States Treasury. 

Mr. Baker was instrumental in creating the RTC's organizational structure, hiring hundreds of employees and creating and integrating computer systems to coordinate nationally the multiple tasks necessary to execute the more than $400 Billion program. Mr. Baker's colleagues on the four-man panel included Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Nicolas Brady, former Secretary of the Treasury and Jack Kemp, who at the time was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 

In 1978, Mr. Baker began his business career by founding a chain of retail computer stores that became the premier Apple and IBM dealer in Southwest Florida. With annual sales of three million dollars in 1980, the four-store chain was successfully sold in 1985. At age 25, Mr. Baker's next project was Tech:Time, a computer peripheral company he took public (NASDAQ:TTME). Under his leadership the company remained profitable while sales skyrocketed to $32 million. Building on his technological background and expertise, Baker has consulted with Bell & Howell and Hewlett Packard on ink-jet printer design, as well as the US Coast Guard and several other Fortune 500 companies on solid-state equipment design. 

Brad is an instrument rated private pilot and keeps busy with his service on many community boards, including past Trustee of New College and Advisory Board Member for Sarasota (SRQ) airport.  From 2009-2018, he served on the NBAA (National Business Aviation Association) CAM Governing board as a member at large. He was just appointed to the AABI governing board – the accreditation agency for university flight education.  He is an active traveler who has visited over 160 countries and Diamond Delta flyer logging over 2.5 million lifetime miles and continuing to add 125,000 miles each year.