Richard Baker (British businessman, born 1962)


Richard Baker is a British businessman who is the former chief operating officer of Asda Stores Ltd. and CEO of Boots Group. He is currently chairman of the European Division of Groupe Aeroplan, which owns and runs the Nectar Loyalty Programme in the UK. He also serves as non-executive chairman of Virgin Active, non-executive director of Whitbread plc, operating partner at Advent International and chairman of DFS.

Career

After graduating from Downing College, Cambridge, Baker worked at Mars Confectionery for nearly 10 years, working his way up to sales and marketing director. He joined Asda Stores Ltd in 1995, where he worked for the following 9 years becoming Marketing Director in 1999, and ultimately chief operating officer in 2002, following their acquisition by Walmart.
In September 2003, Baker joined Boots Group as chief executive officer. The company had been reporting losses following its ill-advised move into its 'Wellbeing' services, which included Dentistry, Massage and Botox. 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. The announcement met with widespread opposition, but the merger was cleared by the OFT in February 2006 and completed in July that year. Baker became chief executive officer of the new Alliance Boots GmbH.
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. Baker left the company on completion of the transaction.
Baker has served as chairman of DFS since April 2010, following Advent International's £500 million takeover of the furniture retail chain.
In June 2019, Baker launched his own private equity firm to invest in mid-market, consumer-facing businesses. The firm will target investments in the retail, leisure, services and health sectors in Britain and Europe.

Current roles

Baker now holds various board and advisory roles with top international companies including: