Richard Baker (born 6 August 1962) was CEO of Boots Group from 2003 to 2007. He has since served on a number of executive boards and launched private equity firm BD-Capital.[1]
Baker worked at Mars Confectionery for nearly 10 years, working his way up to sales and marketing director.[2][3] He joined Asda Stores Ltd in 1995,[4] where he worked for nine years, becoming Marketing Director in 1999,[5] and ultimately chief operating officer in 2002, following their acquisition by Walmart.[6]
In September 2003, Baker joined Boots Group as chief executive officer.[7] The company had been reporting losses following its ill-advised move into its 'Wellbeing' services.[8][9] Despite implementing a number of cost-cutting measures and extending opening hours, the company continued to struggle until October 2005 it announced it was to merge with competitor Alliance Unichem.[10] The announcement met with widespread opposition, but the merger was cleared by the OFT in February 2006 and completed in July that year.[11][12] Baker became chief executive officer of the new Alliance Boots GmbH.[13]
In April 2007, after publishing annual results that showed a profit increase of 7.4%, Alliance Boots was sold to private equity firm KKR for £11.1 billion; the highest price ever paid by a private equity company for a British public company.[14][15] Baker left the company on completion of the transaction.[16]
From 2008 to 2014, Baker served as non-executive chairman of Virgin Active.[17] From 2009 to 2017, he served as chairman of the European Division of Groupe Aeroplan.[18][19] From 2010 to 2018, he served as chairman of DFS.[20] From 2014 to 2018, he served as non-executive director of Whitbread.[21][22]
In June 2019, Baker launched his own private equity firm, BD-Capital.[1]
