SOURCE OF WEALTH: Sirius Capital Group, Ripplewood Holdings
FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, TBD
OVERVIEW: Frank Baker and Laura Day do not yet appear to have a charitable vehicle but gave a big $7 million gift to University of Chicago in 2016. Education appears to be a top priority of the couple’s nascent giving.
BACKGROUND: Raised outside of Detroit, Michigan, Frank Baker graduated with a B.A. from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Baker started his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group. He was a managing director at Ripplewood Holdings LLC, a global private equity firm, and went on to cofound Siris Capital Group, a middle market private equity firm focused on deep value, control equity investments around special situations in the telecom, technology and technology-enabled business service sectors.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Baker and Day’s $7 million gift to University of Chicago went to endow undergraduate scholarships and internships for lower-income students. Each year, seven students will be selected to receive Frank Baker and Laura Day New Leader Odyssey Scholarships and New Leader Odyssey Internships, as well as an annual stipend for summer research, travel, or internships. Baker is also a board member of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a free eight-year academic program that helps low-income public high school students graduate and get through college. Long before he was an SEO board member, Baker was a student with SEO and graduated from the program in 1992.
Baker is also involved with United Negro College Fund and has spoken about the importance of HBCUs. Additionally, he’s spoken about issues of diversity in STEM and is on the advisory board of All Star Code, which “provides young men of color the skills, networks and mindsets they need to succeed in tech through our coding and computer programs.”
OTHER: Baker is a director of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
LOOKING FORWARD: Baker is still very much engaged in business but should be watched for greater giving in the coming years. If and when the couple establishes a formal family foundation, expect education and diversity in technology to loom large.
LINK: Sirius Capital Group
