Charlie Baker Biography, Age, Career, Education, Height, Family, and Net Worth.

Who is Charlie Baker?

Charlie Baker is an American politician and the 72nd Governor of Massachusett. Apart from being a politician, he is also a known businessman.

He has been serving as the governor for six years since January 8th, 2015. Moreover, prior to being the governor, he was a cabinet official under two governors of Massachusetts. In addition, he has also served as CEO of Havard Pilgrim Health Care for ten years.

Career

State Government

Baker started working for the government in the early 1990s. In the late 1980’s he was hired as co-director of the newly founded Pioneer Institute. The Institute was a Boston-based libertarian think tank. After a while, he was referred to Bill Weld by the founder of the institute. At that time Bill Weld was the incoming Republican Governor of Massachusetts.

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After Bill took the office in 1991, Baker was hired as undersecretary of Health and Human Services. When it came to cutting back state programs and social services, he caused controversy from early on. Nevertheless, some of the leaders called him an ” innovator” and one of the big stars among the secretariats and the agencies”.

One year later he was promoted and he became Secretary of Administration and Finance in 1992. He held the position for five years until 1997. After that, he was offered a spot as Lieutenant governor in mid-1998 by Cellucci. However, he didn’t take the offer.

Health Industry

After working for the state government for seven years, he left in 1997, and in 1998, he was hired as CEO of Havard Vanguard Medical Associates, a New England- based physicians group. One year later, he was announced as the new president and CEO of Havard Vanguard’s parent company, Havard Pilgrim Health Care, a non-profit health benefits organization. In 1998, the company had lost $58 million and it was predicted it was going to lose $90 million in 1999.

While responding to the situation, he reduced the workforce by 90 employees, raising rates. In addition, he established new contracts with Massachusetts physicians, re-evaluated the company’s financial structure, and outsourced its information technology.

During his time as the CEO, the company had 24 profitable quarters in a row. As a result of this success, he earned recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance as its choice for America’s Best Health Plan for five consecutive years.

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Baker was invited to join the board of trustees of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in mid-2007. The hiring sparked debate because of his background in the insurance industry. However, together with the hospital’s CEO, Paul F. Levy, denied any conflict of interest.

How Old Is Charlie Baker?

He was born on November 13, 1956, he is 64 years old as of 2021.

Charlie Baker Family

He was born in Elmira, New York as the son of Charles Duane Baker and Alice Elizabeth. His grandfather was a prominent politician in Newburyport, Massachusetts. In addition, his father was the buyer for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. On the other hand, his mother stayed at home.

Does he Have Siblings?

He has two younger brothers Jonathan and Alex

Charlie Baker Education

He attended Needham High School, where he graduated in 1975. After that, he enrolled in Harvard College and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He later joined Northwestern University’s Kellog School of Management and graduated with MBA.

Charlie Baker Wife

He is married to Lauren Cardy Stuart, who is also an alumnus of Kellog. In addition, his wife works as an assistant account executive at a New York advertising agency.

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Charlie Baker Kids

Together with his wife, they have been blessed with three children.

Political Career

After working for the state government in the 1990’s he returned to politics in 2004. This time he was running for the board of selectmen of Swampscott, Massachusetts. He won the position very easily.

After taking the office he was known for his businesslike approach to local issues. In addition, his fellow selectmen outlined him as low-key and budget-oriented. After serving the first term of three years he decided to seek reelection in 2007.

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In mid-2005 there was speculation, that Governor Mitt Romney was not going to seek reelection in 2006. Baker was seen as the potential candidate to replace Mitt. However, according to Analysts, it was going to be hard for him to defeat lieutenant governor Kerry Healey. In addition, after he gave the idea serious consideration, in 2005 he decided not to run and cited that it was going to be a burden to his family and it was difficult to compete against Kerry.

In the fall of 2006, he was named to a budget and finance working group for incoming governor Deval Patrick’s transition committee. After that, he joined the Public Advisory Board of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP) at Saint Anselm College in 2008.

2010 governorship campaign

Baker declared his bid to run for the gubernatorial seat on July 8th, 2009. This was after he was encouraged to run by former governor Weld calling him “the heart and Soul of the Weld-Cellucci administration.”

After the announcement, he started his campaign officially on 30th, January 2010. On the ballot, he was going to face Democratic incumbent Deval Patrick, Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein, and Tim Cahill. Moreover, he chose Richard R. Tisei, a Senate minority leader to be his running mate.

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He won the Republican nomination at the Republican Convention on April 17th, 2010. He defeated Christy Mihos, a former Independent candidate with 89% of the delegate vote. He run as a social liberal where he was favoring same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

In order to reinforce his socially liberal position, he selected Richard Tisei who is openly gay and he has been supporting same-sex marriage legalization efforts in Massachusetts.

His campaign emphasized “Baker’s Dozen,” a proposal outlining 13 areas of state government reform. These reforms included consolidation of government, welfare reform, and restructuring of public employee pension and retirement benefits, which Baker said would save the state more than $1 billion.

In the general election, he was running against Patrick, who defeated him in the November 2 election. He received 42% of the votes while Patrick received 48% of the votes. Despite him losing the seat he was named as an executive in residence at General Catalyst Partner and a member of the board of directors at the Tremont Credit Union.

2014 Elections

On September 4th, 2013, Baker confirmed his candidacy, after the retirement of incumbent governor Deval Patrick. After two months, Mark Fisher a known businessman a Tea Party member also declared his bid to run for the position.

In December 2013, he appointed Karyn Polito as his running mate. Moreover, at the Republican State Convention on March 22, 2014, he defeated Fisher with 82.2% of the vote while Fisher received 14.8% of the votes.

After winning the nomination, the Boston Globe announced that they were going to back Baker. It was the first time in 20 years since the paper endorsed a republican. In the general election, he faced a Democratic nominee Martha Coakley. He went ahead and defeated her with 48.5% of the votes to 46.6% of the votes.

2018 Election

During the 2018 Election, he was challenged by Scott Lively, an evangelical pastor. Moreover, at the state convention, he received enough votes to enable him to proceed to the ballot. However, he was defeated in the Republican primary by Baker who received 70% of the votes on September 4th, 2018.

Furthermore, during the general election, he runs against Jay Gonzalez, a private health insurance executive. Baker went ahead and secured the position receiving 67% of the votes. This was the highest vote total In the history of Massachusetts gubernatorial elections. In addition, it was also the best performance by Massachusetts Republican governor.

Governorship

After he won for the first time he was inaugurated on January 8, 2015, as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts. The ceremony took place at Massachusetts State House in Boston. When he was re-elected he was inaugurated on January 3, 2019. Moreover, he is seen as a liberal or moderate Republican. In addition, he strongly critiques former President Donald Trump.