Dr. David Baker, senior vice president of field services for the DIRECTV Group, Inc. and a member of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees, will be the speaker at Tusculum College’s spring commencement exercises.
Dr. Baker will deliver the address to students at both ceremonies on Saturday, May 7, in the Pioneer Arena in Niswonger Commons on the Greeneville campus. The morning ceremony will be graduates of the college’s residential program and will begin at 10 a.m. An afternoon ceremony, which will begin at 2 p.m., will be held for graduates of the Graduate and Professional Studies program.
Dr. David Baker
“Dr. David Baker joined the Tusculum College Board of Trustees in October 2009 and has been an active participant in Board and institutional events,” said Dr. Nancy B. Moody, president of Tusculum College. “He initiated an effort for Tusculum College to use a process called “Kill the Company” in an effort for institutional representatives to identify and alleviate or ‘kill’ antiquated policies and procedures directed primarily at removing barriers to student admission, progression and graduation.”
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, CO, and have one daughter who is nearing graduation from West Virginia University.
For the morning ceremony, practice begins at 8:45 a.m. For the afternoon ceremony, practice begins at 12:45 p.m. The Pioneer Arena will open for guest seating after completion of each rehearsal. Guests are asked to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the ceremony. For those who are unable to attend the ceremonies and would like to view live online, they may send an email requesting instructions to bhenley@tusculum.edu.
No tickets are required for graduation.