Dr. David Baker
Dr. David Baker delivered the commencement address to students at both ceremonies on Saturday, May 7, in the Pioneer Arena in Niswonger Commons on the Greeneville campus. Dr. Baker provided some valuable advice to the graduates about success in the workplace from what he has learned in the more than three decades of his career. You may view the commencement address at this site: https://vimeo.com/167919821/7cc5fb0ad3.
Dr. Baker oversees DIRECTV Group’s national network of installation and service providers and is charged with improving the quality of the customer experience at the point of installation and service. Additionally, he is responsible for DIRECTV Home Services, which is DIRECTV’s owned and operated field services operation. He is currently based in DIRECTV’s Denver offices.
Dr. Baker’s career includes more than 20 years with The DIRECTV Group and its former parent company. Between 1998 and 2006, he held leadership positions with DIRECTV Latin America and DIRECTV Japan, as well as several senior-level financial and operational roles.
Most recently Baker was executive vice president and chief operating officer for On Command Corporation, where he led the integration of On Command into its new parent company, LodgeNet. Also, as a managing director at Nightingale and Associates, LLP, Baker restructured a $350 million construction company to return it to profitability.
Prior to DIRECTV, Baker was at Weyerhaeuser Company as an engineer in raw materials and research and development in Federal Way, WA, and then worked as an operations research analyst for Getty Oil Company in Los Angeles, Calif.
Dr. Baker holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from West Virginia University and earned his doctorate in mineral economics at the Colorado School of Mines.
Dr. Baker and wife, Nancy, reside in Parker, Colorado, and have one daughter who is nearing graduation from West Virginia University.