149 Facts About Charlie Baker

Charlie Baker served as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts from 2015 to 2023 and held two cabinet positions under two previous governors of Massachusetts.

Charlie Baker served ten years as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and is a member of the Republican Party.

Charlie Baker later served as Secretary of Administration and Finance under Weld and his successor, Paul Cellucci.

Charlie Baker stepped down in July 2009 to run for governor on a platform of fiscal conservatism and cultural liberalism.

Charlie Baker was unopposed in the Republican primary but lost the 2010 general election to Democratic incumbent Deval Patrick.

In 2014, Charlie Baker ran for governor again and narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Martha Coakley.

In December 2021, Charlie Baker announced that he would not seek reelection in 2022.

On December 15,2022, Charlie Baker was named as Mark Emmert's successor as president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Charlie Baker was born on November 13,1956, in Elmira, New York.

Charlie Baker is the fourth generation in the family to bear the forename Charles.

Charlie Baker's great-grandfather Charles D Baker was an assistant United States attorney in New York, who served several years in the New York State Assembly.

Charlie Baker's father was a conservative Republican and his mother a liberal Democrat; the family was often drawn into political arguments at the dinner table.

Charlie Baker grew up with two younger brothers, Jonathan and Alex, in Needham, Massachusetts, before moving to Rockport.

Charlie Baker's father served as undersecretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services in the Reagan Administration under US Representative Margaret Heckler.

Charlie Baker served on the student council, played basketball, and joined DeMolay International, a youth fraternity organization.

Charlie Baker graduated from Needham High School in 1975, alongside future Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy.

Charlie Baker attended Harvard College and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, where, by his own admission, he was a C-student-turned-B-student.

Charlie Baker then attended Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, where he received an MBA.

In cutting back state programs and social services, Charlie Baker caused controversy from early on.

Charlie Baker defended his plan as responsible, effective, and based on previous government officials' good-faith assurances that the Big Dig would be built on time and on budget.

However, as he was developing the plan, Charlie Baker had had to take into account that Governor Cellucci was dead-set against any new taxes or fees.

Charlie Baker responded by cutting the workforce by 90 people, increasing premiums, establishing new contracts with Massachusetts physicians, reassessing the company's financial structure, and outsourcing its information technology.

In mid-2007, Charlie Baker was invited to join the board of trustees of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Charlie Baker was widely considered a top contender for the Republican nomination.

Furthermore, ethics guidelines at Harvard Pilgrim prevented Charlie Baker from carrying out any political fundraising while he held an executive position.

In late 2006, Charlie Baker was named to a Budget and Finance working group for incoming Governor Deval Patrick's transition committee.

Charlie Baker was inaugurated as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts on January 8,2015, at the Massachusetts State House in Boston.

Charlie Baker was inaugurated for his second term on January 3,2019.

Charlie Baker is considered a liberal or moderate Republican and has been a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump.

Charlie Baker supported the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump that began in September 2019.

On January 3,2023, Charlie Baker delivered his farewell address from the Massachusetts State House.

In 2009 Charlie Baker was again rumored to be a contender for the Massachusetts gubernatorial election.

Charlie Baker's opponents were Democratic incumbent Deval Patrick, Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein, and an independent, state treasurer and Receiver General Tim Cahill.

Charlie Baker ran as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, stressing job creation as his primary focus.

Charlie Baker reinforced his socially liberal position by selecting as his running mate Richard Tisei, an openly gay Republican who had supported same-sex marriage legalization efforts in Massachusetts.

At a town hall meeting in Chilmark, Massachusetts, on Martha's Vineyard, Charlie Baker voiced his opposition to the proposed Cape Wind project supported by Governor Patrick.

Charlie Baker ran against Patrick in an atmosphere of voter discontent, with a slow economy and high unemployment, which he used to his advantage during the campaign.

On September 4,2013, Charlie Baker announced that he would run for governor again in 2014 when incumbent governor Deval Patrick retired.

In December 2013, Charlie Baker chose as his running mate Karyn Polito, a former opponent of same-sex marriage who had come to support marriage equality.

At the Republican State Convention on March 22,2014, Charlie Baker received 2,095 votes and Fisher 374.

Charlie Baker sued the Massachusetts Republican State Committee and was certified for the primary ballot after a lengthy battle.

In July 2014, Democrats criticized Charlie Baker for refusing to say whether he supported a provision in the new gun control law that gave police chiefs discretion to deny firearms identification cards, which are required to purchase shotguns and rifles.

Charlie Baker later said in a debate that he would have signed the gun control bill as it was signed by Governor Patrick.

On October 29,2014, controversy arose over a story that Charlie Baker told the previous night about a fisherman and his two sons in New Bedford.

Democratic nominee Martha Coakley seized on the moment to attack Charlie Baker, and visited New Bedford to meet with fishing industry leaders.

Charlie Baker was challenged in the Republican primary by Scott Lively, an evangelical pastor, who received enough votes at the state convention to qualify for ballot access.

Gonzalez suffered from low name recognition throughout the campaign and polls indicated that Charlie Baker would receive a majority of the vote from registered Democrats in the state.

In July 2016, the market research firm Gravis Marketing conducting a poll on ballot questions and state politics for Jobs First, a conservative political action committee, found Charlie Baker having a two-thirds favorability rating.

In December 2015, Charlie Baker filed legislation to modernize municipal finance in the state through a series of regulatory reforms.

In January 2016, Charlie Baker announced the first award in the inaugural round of the state's Urban Agenda Grant Program in Roxbury, and the following day, Charlie Baker's administration announced the rest of the program's inaugural round of grants.

In September 2017, Charlie Baker signed the 300th Community Compact agreement with the town of Swampscott, and the following month, Charlie Baker's administration announced $343,000 in Collaborative Workspace Program grants to seven organizations in Western Massachusetts.

In November 2017, Charlie Baker's administration announced the second round of grants from the state's Urban Agenda Grant Program.

In March 2015, as part of his budget proposal for fiscal year 2016, Charlie Baker proposed eliminating the state's film industry tax credit to pay for an expansion of the state's earned income tax credit, and later in the same month, Charlie Baker's administration announced that the state had approved a tax credits package to support an expansion project by Amazon.

Also in March 2015, Charlie Baker signed an executive order initiating a comprehensive review of all regulations enforced by the state government.

Later that month, Charlie Baker announced that Massachusetts would bid for Amazon.

In October 2017, Charlie Baker stated that offering Amazon only a single proposed location within Massachusetts for their second headquarters "would be a huge mistake" and that "I think the best thing we can do with respect to Amazon is to give them what I would describe as a menu of options," and Charlie Baker wrote an open letter of support for the Boston bid.

In June 2018, addressing concerns about the effects of retaliatory tariffs imposed by the Canadian government in response to protectionist tariffs implemented by the Trump Administration, Charlie Baker stated "I've talked to plenty of employers and companies here in the commonwealth that are worried about the lack of clarity associated with that relationship at this point in time" and noted that Canada is New England's biggest trading partner.

In May 2018, after the US Supreme Court overturned the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in the Murphy v NCAA case, Baker stated that Massachusetts should look into legalizing sports betting.

In October 2015, Charlie Baker announced a strategy to leverage unused or underutilized state land for economic development and market-rate or affordable housing.

In March 2018, Charlie Baker received an award from the Greater Boston affiliate of Habitat for Humanity for his administration's policies to create more affordable housing in the state.

In November 2018, Charlie Baker stated that he would support raising the state's Registry of Deeds fee associated with funding the state's Community Preservation Trust Fund so that each town participating in the state's affordable housing program under the Community Preservation Act will each receive at least a 50 percent matching funds rate from the state.

In December 2018, Charlie Baker's administration announced that Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash would be stepping down from the position and that he would be succeeded by his assistant secretary Mike Kennealy.

In February 2015, Charlie Baker issued an executive order creating a Workforce Skills Cabinet to formulate a strategy to address the state's workforce skills gap, and the following month, Charlie Baker issued a second executive order establishing a task force to formulate a plan to address chronic unemployment among specific target populations.

In November 2015, Charlie Baker announced the first round of initiatives developed by the Workforce Skills Cabinet he formed the previous February.

In July 2016, Charlie Baker instituted a hiring freeze in the state executive branch and vetoed prohibitions on the administration from increasing state employees' contributions to their health insurance from the 2017 fiscal year budget.

In January 2017, Charlie Baker vetoed a pay raise for state legislators, statewide constitutional officers, and judicial officials, which was overridden by the state legislature the following month.

In November 2017, Charlie Baker signed into law a bill creating a registry for home care workers.

In June 2018, Charlie Baker signed into law a "grand bargain" bill that will incrementally increase the state minimum wage to $15 per hour and the tipped minimum wage to $6.75 per hour by 2023, eliminated the state's requirement for time-and-a-half pay for retail workers on Sundays and holidays, and created a new paid family and medical leave program.

In July 2018, Charlie Baker signed into law a bill to provide paid leave to firefighters with work-related cancer.

Also in December 2018, Charlie Baker certified a six percent pay increase for state legislators, statewide constitutional officers, and state judges.

In January 2016, Charlie Baker announced a comprehensive public-private partnership to improve the competitiveness of the state's digital healthcare industry.

In February 2015, Charlie Baker directed the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to issue a public notice clarifying the status of transportation network companies while his administration developed a regulatory framework for the industry.

In October 2016, Charlie Baker issued an executive order to create a regulatory framework for the testing of driverless cars in Massachusetts, and in the same month, oversaw the opening of the state's electronic tolling system along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

In September 2017, Charlie Baker's administration announced that it was planning to create a new commission to review the state's transportation needs, and Charlie Baker enacted the commission by executive order the following January.

In November 2017, Charlie Baker called for the state legislature to pass legislation banning handheld cellphone use while driving, with exceptions for hands-free technology usage and emergency situations.

In December 2018, the commission Charlie Baker enacted the previous January to review the state's transportation needs released a two-volume report outlining 18 specific recommendations in five broad categories, and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation released a report showing that wait times at the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles offices had increased over the previous year, which state officials attributed to the introduction of the federal Real ID Act in the state.

In November 2019, Charlie Baker signed into law a bill banning the use of handheld electronic devices while driving.

In October 2015, Charlie Baker filed legislation to increase the state cap on the number of new charter schools in the state by 12 per year, and later in the same month, testified in favor of the legislation before the state legislature.

In March 2016, Charlie Baker opposed a proposed overhaul to the state's charter school system being debated in the Massachusetts Senate at the time, and the following month, the Massachusetts Senate rejected Charlie Baker's proposed charter school cap increase.

In July 2016, Charlie Baker vetoed a pay increase for pre-kindergarten teachers.

In November 2016, Charlie Baker campaigned on behalf of a ballot initiative to raise the state cap on new charter schools which failed to pass, and in the same month, Charlie Baker's administration expanded a STEM internship program allowing high school students to work at related companies in the state.

In March 2017, Charlie Baker proposed a six percent pay increase for pre-kindergarten teachers.

In October 2017, Charlie Baker attended the launch of an early college program at Lawrence High School allowing students to take courses at Merrimack College or Northern Essex Community College.

In November 2017, Charlie Baker signed into law a bill expanding options for schools in fulfilling English as a second language requirements for their immigrant students.

In March 2018, Charlie Baker signed into law a bill preventing a steep health insurance price increase for retired public school teachers.

In September 2016, Charlie Baker's administration announced their intention to work with the state's Department of Higher Education and the University of Massachusetts system to develop a pilot program to support the MicroMasters programs developed by the massive open online course provider edX.

In November 2017, Charlie Baker announced the formation of a new commission on digital learning.

The day after the withdrawals, Charlie Baker said he was "disappointed about the whole way this thing [the UMass Boston chancellor search] has played out".

Also in May 2018, the US Treasury Department approved a request Charlie Baker submitted that the Columbia Point census tract, which includes the former Bayside Expo Center, be designated as an opportunity zone under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

In July 2018, Charlie Baker included an amendment to a $583 million supplemental appropriations bill requiring public and private colleges and universities to report any financial liabilities or risks to the long-term financial viability of the institution to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, which Charlie Baker signed into law as a full bill in November 2019.

In June 2017, Charlie Baker's administration announced a 200 megawatt-hour energy storage target in accordance with energy diversification legislation Charlie Baker signed into law in August 2016.

In January 2018, Charlie Baker's administration announced that Eversource Energy's Northern Pass Project had received preliminary approval for the hydropower procurement under the energy diversification law.

In January 2016, Charlie Baker's administration announced that Massachusetts was on track to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals.

In December 2016, Charlie Baker's administration released regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the natural gas, transportation, and electricity generation industries.

In January 2017, in order to meet emission reductions goals, Charlie Baker signed into law a bill to promote the sale and use of electric vehicles.

In February 2017, Charlie Baker joined a bipartisan coalition of governors that sent an open letter to President Donald Trump, calling on his administration to support renewable energy.

In June 2018, Charlie Baker's administration announced $5 million in grants to 34 cities and towns for climate change vulnerability preparedness.

In December 2018, Charlie Baker's administration announced that it would extend the state's electric vehicle rebate program through the end of the following June, and a transportation commission Charlie Baker enacted by executive order the previous January released a report stating that all vehicles sold in the state should be electric by 2040.

In May 2016, Charlie Baker spoke in defense of a Deval Patrick administration proposal to create a timber rattlesnake colony on an isolated island in the Quabbin Reservoir that is closed to the public.

In July 2017, Charlie Baker launched the third year of the Summer Nights for Youth Initiative to extend operating hours and expand programming at city parks across the state.

Also in April 2016, Charlie Baker filed legislation requesting that the state Department of Environmental Protection be delegated to oversee Clean Water Act pollution discharge permits from the US Environmental Protection Agency along with 46 other states, and then again in March 2017 after the previous bill received opposition from Democrats on the state legislature's Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture.

In June 2018, Charlie Baker's administration announced $50,000 in grants to Gosnold and Dartmouth for habitat conservation and water quality protection projects in Buzzards Bay.

In May 2015, Charlie Baker sent a request to US Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell to delay changes under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to the small business health insurance market in Massachusetts until the state government could formally file for a waiver, which was secured the next month and authorized in August.

In December 2016, Charlie Baker announced his support for the 21st Century Cures Act passed by the 114th US Congress.

In January 2017, in an open letter to US House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Charlie Baker defended certain provisions of the ACA and urged the 115th US Congress not to repeal the law too quickly and disrupt insurance markets.

In March 2017, Charlie Baker said that discussions with Republican Congressional leadership and incoming US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price at a National Governors Association meeting were "mostly a one-way street type conversation," and expressed opposition to cuts in funding for the National Institutes of Health in the Trump Administration's 2018 US federal budget.

Later in March 2017, and after writing in an open letter to all members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation that the state could lose $1 billion in federal health care funding under the American Health Care Act of 2017, Charlie Baker opposed the version of the AHCA being voted on by the US House of Representatives at the time.

In October 2017, Charlie Baker opposed the Trump administration's decision to end ACA cost-sharing reduction payments, and along with the previous group of governors, wrote a fourth open letter to Senate leadership supporting the Bipartisan Health Care Stabilization Act of 2017 sponsored by Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray.

In November 2017, Charlie Baker wrote to Speaker of the US House of Representatives Paul Ryan and US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urging them to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Charlie Baker's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has received mixed reviews.

In March 2016, Charlie Baker's administration cut $60 million from the state program Health Safety Net and Charlie Baker said that he wanted hospital pricing resolved by the state legislature rather than by a ballot initiative.

Later the same month, Charlie Baker signed into law a bill mandating insurance coverage of treatment for HIV-associated lipodystrophy caused by older HIV medications.

In January 2017, in his state budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, Charlie Baker proposed a $2,000-per-employee assessment on businesses that do not offer health insurance to counter spending growth in MassHealth, which was opposed by the state business community and supported by health care unions.

In February 2017, Charlie Baker's administration announced that the Massachusetts Health Connector enrolled the highest number of health insurance applicants since the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Also in February 2017, Charlie Baker's administration announced that it signed a contract with Correct Care Solutions to provide clinical patient care at Bridgewater State Hospital, and the next April, the administration announced that Correct Care Solutions had transitioned Bridgewater State Hospital to improved patient care.

In March 2018, Charlie Baker signed into law greater patient privacy protections from health insurance companies, and the next month, a commission Charlie Baker enacted the previous year to investigate evidence-based approaches to behavioral health released its final report.

In January 2017, Charlie Baker voiced support for the Women's Marches being held across the United States.

In March 2017, after congressional Republicans in the 115th US Congress proposed a defunding provision to the American Health Care Act of 2017 that would make Planned Parenthood clinics in Massachusetts ineligible for nearly $2 million in Medicaid medical service reimbursements and federal family planning grants under Title X, Charlie Baker's administration promised to offset the funding gap.

In July 2017, Charlie Baker signed into law a bill requiring employers to provide "reasonable accommodations" for female employees who are pregnant and banning employment discrimination in hiring or termination against female employees who are pregnant, which went into effect in April 2018.

In October 2017, when the Trump administration issued new regulations allowing insurers and employers to opt out of contraceptive mandates, Charlie Baker reiterated his support for such mandates, and the next month signed into law a bill requiring Massachusetts insurers to cover birth control without copayments.

In February 2018, Charlie Baker's administration announced a supplemental spending bill that included $1.6 million for clinical family planning services that would backfill federal funding for Planned Parenthood clinics.

In July 2018, Baker criticized a proposed revision by the Trump Administration to Title X banning health clinics from sharing workspace and financial resources with abortion providers, and signed into law a bill repealing state abortion laws that would have been retroactively reinstated when Roe v Wade was overturned, as well as laws against adultery, fornication, and physicians prescribing contraceptives to unmarried women.

In December 2020, Charlie Baker vetoed a bill that would lower to 16 the age at which someone can get an abortion without parental consent.

Charlie Baker said, "I cannot support the sections of this proposal that expand the availability of later term abortions and permit minors age 16 and 17 to get an abortion without the consent of a parent or guardian".

In May 2022, after Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization was leaked, Baker said overturning Roe v Wade would be a "massive setback" for women.

In September 2015, President Barack Obama's administration proposed accepting 10,000 Syrian Civil War refugees into the country, and Charlie Baker relayed his initial support for the proposal.

In July 2016, Charlie Baker signed a bill into law that prevents illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses.

In September 2017, Charlie Baker opposed Trump's administrative decision to phase out the DACA program and said that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids targeting sanctuary cities should focus on arresting convicted criminals in the country illegally and not on illegal immigrants whose only crime is illegal entry.

In December 2018, Charlie Baker called for the suspension of a state district court judge who allegedly assisted an illegal immigrant from being detained by an ICE agent during a legal proceeding from hearing further criminal cases until the federal investigation of the incident is concluded.

In June 2020, Charlie Baker signed a law making Juneteenth an official state holiday.

In December 2020, Charlie Baker signed into law An Act Relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth, a bill created in response to Black Lives Matter protests calling for police reform across the country in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the shooting of Breonna Taylor.

Charlie Baker originally hesitated to sign the bill and sent it back to the legislature due to a provision that would create a civilian-led commission on police misconduct, saying, "I do not accept the premise that civilians know best how to train police".

Charlie Baker opposed the bill's ban on facial recognition technology.

Charlie Baker signed the bill into law after compromising by limiting facial recognition technology, not banning it altogether.

In February 2015, Charlie Baker announced the formation of a working group to write a report formulating a statewide strategy to address the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts, which was released in June 2015.

In September 2015, Charlie Baker met with the deans of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Harvard Medical School, Boston University School of Medicine, and Tufts University School of Medicine, as well as the leadership of the Massachusetts Medical Society, to discuss improving medical school education on pain management in the state.

In October 2015, Charlie Baker filed legislation to increase access to recovery high schools, provide and require training for parents, public school nurses, public school sports coaches and trainers on the dangers of opioid use, allow hospitals to involuntarily hold addiction patients for 72 hours while attempting to place them in treatment, and restrict first-time opioid prescriptions to a three-day supply.

In March 2016, Charlie Baker spoke in support of new Centers for Disease Control opioid prescription guidelines, signed into law a bill repealing automatic driver's license suspensions for people convicted of drug crimes, and Charlie Baker signed into law a compromise version of the comprehensive opioid legislation he proposed the previous October.

Also in July 2016, Charlie Baker's administration expanded the women's drug addiction program at Taunton State Hospital.

In December 2016, Charlie Baker announced a pilot workers' compensation program to provide alternative treatments to opioids for workers with settled claims for on-the-job injuries.

In March 2017, Charlie Baker was appointed to the Trump Administration's Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission chaired by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and in June 2017, Charlie Baker attended the commission's first meeting.

In November 2017, the commission released its final report, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released data showing opioid overdose deaths in Massachusetts declined by 10 percent over the first nine months of 2017, and Charlie Baker proposed an overhaul to the reforms he signed into law in March 2016.

On December 15,2022, the NCAA announced that Charlie Baker had been named the sixth president of the NCAA, effective March 2023.

Charlie Baker replaced Mark Emmert, who announced his intent to retire.

Charlie Baker becomes the first NCAA president to not be a college president or a athletic director since its inception.

Charlie Baker becomes the first NCAA President not be a power five conference thus being NCAA's First outside CEO.

Charlie Baker married Lauren Cardy Schadt, another Kellogg alumnus, in 1987.

Charlie Baker is the daughter of James P Schadt, the former CEO of Reader's Digest and Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages.

The next week, Charlie Baker responded to questions about the incident and said his son would fully cooperate with the Massachusetts US Attorney's Office's independent review of the matter.