Derek Baker
BSc (Elect. Eng.), MSc (Elect. Eng.), BCom (Ind. Psych. & Bus. Admin), C.Eng., Cert. Eng., FIET, FCMI, FIOD, JP
Derek Baker is a Director of WHB. He is a Chartered and Certificated Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Engineers, a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, a Freeman of the City of London and approved by the Institute of Directors as a Qualified Interviewer for The Chartered Director Professional Review.
Starting on the factory floor as an apprentice, Derek spent nearly thirty years in the private sector industrial arena during which time he rose to the boardroom of both a Fruehauf subsidiary and a General Electric (USA) subsidiary and became managing director of his own specialist engineering company.
Derek followed his apprenticeship with two degrees in Electrical Engineering and thereafter a pupilage led to a major shift into management, with additional degrees in Industrial Psychology and Business Management. The experience gained in the following years of working in international manufacturing with companies such as Westinghouse of America, ACEC of Belgium, Telitalia of Italy, Hollophane (UK) and M&G of Austria stood him in good stead as he developed his own manufacturing and marketing company.
Throughout his commercial career Derek has been actively involved in management development and training and attended numerous courses in the UK and the USA. His interest and studies in psychology, combined with his long term activities as a Samaritan Volunteer and Trustee and his current work at the IOD are patently obvious in his management style. After selling his own successful company in 1987, Derek has spent the intervening years working in the public sector; first with the NHS at Guy's Hospital, where he was a Senior Manager in the Estates Department and spent time on secondment in the HR Training Department involved in management training and assessment, and then with the BBC.
Joining the BBC World Service as Deputy Head of Engineering Services, then moving up to Head of Premises where he was responsible for all building maintenance and services he finally assumed the role of Acting Head of Facilities Management responsible for all support services within Bush House in London.
Throughout the ten years spent in the public sector Derek was deeply involved in implementing the government's Market Testing Initiative, and has gained considerable experience in the preparation of specifications and tender documentation and the contract management of both "hard" and "soft" services services.
Since joining WHB Derek has spent time in both the private and public sectors as a change manager, business consultant and as an Interim Manager in a number of different roles.