Richard Alan Baker (born November 27, 1965)^[2] is an American business executive. He is the Governor, CEO, and Executive Chairman of Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) ^[3] and executive chairman of each of HBC's eight portfolio companies.^[4] He is also the owner of National Realty and Development Corp. (NRDC),^[5] a US-based private real estate development and investment company, and is the Chairman of the Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (ROIC), a public real estate company.^[6]

Early life and education

Baker grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, the son of Betty Lou (née Grossman)^[7][8] and Robert C. Baker, the founder of NRDC.^[9] He has one brother, Nelson, and two sisters, Lauren and Ashley.^[10][11] As a teenager, Baker spent many of his weekends shadowing his father, a real estate developer, during visits to shopping centers throughout the Northeastern United States.^[12][13] At 15, Baker attended the École de Cuisine La Varenne, a cooking school in Paris; he subsequently started a catering business that employed classmates and catered parties in his hometown.^[14][15] He graduated from the Brunswick School^[16] and received a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management from Cornell University in 1988.^[1] He is of Jewish descent.^[17]

Career

He began his career working for his father, a mall developer and principal of National Realty & Development Corp, after graduating from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.^[9] In 2006, he purchased Lord & Taylor, America's longest continually operating department store from Federated Department Stores, for $1.2 billion,^[18] borrowing $1 billion to finance the deal.^[19] In 2017, Baker sold the Lord & Taylor flagship building on Fifth Avenue for $850 million to WeWork.^[20] Two years later, he sold the Lord & Taylor operating company for $100 million to Le Tote.^[21]

In 2008, Baker led NRDC's purchase of the Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), North America's oldest company (established by English royal charter in 1670), Baker becoming its Governor (company chairman).^[22]

In November 2012, HBC was publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange,^[23][24] at which time Baker assumed the role of interim CEO until the appointment of Helena Foulkes as CEO in 2018.^[25]

In 2013, Baker led the acquisition by HBC of Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks OFF 5TH through the $2.9 billion purchase of its parent company, Saks Inc.^[26]

In 2015, as HBC's chairman, Richard orchestrated the acquisition of Germany's largest department store chain, Galeria Kaufhof.^[27] In 2018, HBC sold part of its German real estate assets to Signa Holding, the owner of the German department store Karstadt, for €411 million as the two companies entered into a merger agreement valued at €3.25 billion.^[28] The following year, HBC sold its remaining stake in the merger for $1.5 billion to Signa Group, thus exiting the European market.^[29]

In March 2020, Baker led a group of shareholders to take HBC private, at which time he resumed the role of CEO in addition to his existing role as Executive Chairman.^[30]

In October of that year, HBC created a dedicated investment and real estate business, HBC Properties and Investments, responsible for the operation of 40 million square feet of leasable area throughout North America.^[31]

In August 2021, Baker led the expansion of Hudson's Bay department stores with the launch of the company's online marketplace, TheBay.com.^[32]

Baker is the non-executive chairman of the Retail Opportunity Investments Corporation, a real estate investment trust listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange that focuses on retail properties located on the west coast of the United States.^[33]

Baker has served on the board of trustees of Cornell University since 2014.^[34] He also sits on the advisory boards of the Cornell University School of Hotel Management and the Baker Program in Real Estate–a two-year real estate graduate program at Cornell University.^[35][36]

Philanthropy

Baker and his wife contributed $11 million to Cornell's Program in Real Estate, now the Baker Program in Real Estate in 2012.^[37]

According to HBC, as Chairman of the Hudson's Bay Foundation, Baker has overseen the disbursement of more than C$100 million in cash and in-kind donations to Canadian charities, to include the Canadian Olympic Foundation, the Paralympic Foundation of Canada, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the Children's Aid Foundation of Canada.^[38]

In 2013, under Baker's leadership, the Hudson's Bay Company announced that it had directed $200,000 to the American Red Cross and Canadian Red Cross in support of Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts in the Philippines.^[39] Following the Western Africa Ebola Outbreak in 2014, the Hudson's Bay Company Foundation again partnered with the Canadian Red Cross to match $50,000 in donations to support emergency response operations in affected countries and combat the spread of the virus.^[40] In 2021, the Foundation announced the launch of the Hudson's Bay Charter for Change initiative to accelerate racial equity in Canada with a $30 million gift spread over 10 years.^[41] In 2022, Baker announced the donation of an historic building in downtown Winnipeg by HBC to the First Nations people.^[42][43]

Baker also serves as President of the Saks Fifth Avenue Foundation. As of October 2022, the Foundation announced that it had donated over $5.8 million to various US mental health initiatives.^[44]

Personal life

He is married to Lisa Marie Burrell.^[45] They have three children.^[1]