Gary Baker is an experienced board member serving over 22 years at a very successful publicly-traded bank holding company. He brings a depth and breathe of capabilities to everything he does. While an excellent resource in times of crisis, he also has wonderful experience leading turnaround and emerging growth initiatives. He was a serial entrepreneur and even taught Entrepreneurship in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan for a short time. He was a C-Level technology executive at very large and midsize companies as well as a consultant to many firms in multiple industries. Globally recognized as a true innovative talent, he even presented and taught Disney, Ford Motor Co. and others a Data-Driven Innovation Model that he created. His innovative mindset 1leads to creative problem-solving. He will help you in ways you never imagined.
To better understand his leadership capabilities, please see his Recommendations section in his LinkedIn profile. www.linkedin.com/in/garyebaker He has documented Examples of Leadership Guiding Principles He has Used in the Past. Also, see his Organizations section in LinkedIn to see how well he serves in an advisory capacity in for-profit and non-profit organizations.
Gary is very experienced in Cybersecurity serving as the CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) for the largest healthcare provider in Michigan with eight hospitals and 168 clinics, a large multi-national retailer with over 1000 stores and a quasi-governmental authority responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of toll roads in five counties in Florida. He was the co-leader of the Cybersecurity practice for a 12,000-professionals global consulting firm. He also served on the Michigan Governor’s Cybersecurity Advisory Council, founder of the Michigan Financial Industry Cybersecurity Council and presented at numerous Cybersecurity conferences.
As an experienced C-level executive, he served as the Chief Technology Officer, IT Strategy and Innovation Leader and Chief Data Architect for a $12B+ mid-size bank where he led the complete reorganization of IT operations and architecture and worked with the regulators to successfully address over 60 regulatory matters requiring attention all while reducing headcount by 40%. He served as the CTO through the start-up phase for FinResults, a fintech startup.
Gary joined University Bancorp, Inc. as it was being delisted from NASDAQ. The turnaround continues to be miraculous. In 2021, American Bankers Magazine determined it was the second most profitable bank in the US. Previously, he co-founded and was president of a new type of middle-risk, middle-return investment bank regulated by the Michigan Financial Institutions Bureau.
Gary served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Advisory Council on Small Business. He also provided testimony in front of the US Senate Banking Committee on new types of financing. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Growth Fund which invested endowment funds of the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan in very innovative ways.
As a Big 5 consulting Partner who started and built the Advanced Technology Group in Michigan and Director of IT Transformation Services for a large turnaround and restructuring firm, Gary learned how to serve clients’ needs and assist them with large-scale digital transformation and growth initiatives.
Gary was awarded a TOP TECH Innovator and Influencer designation in 2021 by InterCon (The Internet Conference). Innovation and agile process change has been a big part of every one of these digital transformations. Gary started and led the Agile Transformation practice for a 12,000 professional members global IT services firm.
Gary designed and led major transformation initiatives as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the third largest electronic educational publisher in the US with huge SaaS offerings, an international professional manufacturing engineers association, as well as a global electronics manufacturing trade organization.
He founded and was CEO of the first Internet services company for businesses in Michigan, among other entrepreneurial ventures. For over 24 years, Gary has been the co-host of the weekly Internet Advisor radio show on WJR 760AM-Detroit making complex technology easier to understand and use while answering listeners’ questions.. Gary earned an MBA from the University of Michigan. Gary can be reached at [email protected] or 734-516-3916. https://youtu.be/RiVZf73P_Jg
