Douglas M. Baker Jr. (born December 5, 1958) is the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of

Ecolab, Inc. Ecolab Inc. is an American corporation that is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of applic ...

, a Fortune 500 company in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services.

Education

Baker earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

in Worcester, Mass., where he majored in English. He currently serves on the college's board of trustees.

Career

Baker joined Ecolab in 1989, initially holding various marketing and leadership positions in the U.S. and Europe including vice president and general manager of Kay Chemical Co. a division of Ecolab that provides cleaning and sanitizing programs tailored specifically for the quick food service (fast food) and food retail (supermarket and grocery) markets. Baker then became vice president of Ecolab’s Institutional business sector, which provides cleaning and sanitation products, programs and services to food service, hospitality, healthcare, and commercial customers in North America. Baker was named Ecolab’s president and chief operating officer in 2002, president and chief executive officer in 2004 and added chairman of the board responsibilities in 2006. From 12/31/2013 to 12/31/2017, Ecolab's sales grew from $3.6 billion to $14 billion, a 268% increase, and shareholder's equity increased 476%. Baker has received numerous awards and recognition throughout his career. Most recently, he was awarded the 2018 Deming Cup for Operational Excellence. He was named to the

Forbes Global 2000 The ''Forbes'' Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world, published by ''Forbes'' magazine. "The Global 2000" annual ranking is assembled by ''Forbes'' using a weighted assessment of four metrics: sales, profi ...

: Hall of Fame CEOs, and named 2014 Responsible CEO of the Year by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. He also was named one of the world's top CEOs by Harvard Business Review in 2016 (#41) and 2017 (#39) and was inducted into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame in 2012. Before joining Ecolab, Baker spent seven years with Procter & Gamble in various brand management positions. In addition to his Ecolab responsibilities, Baker serves as a member of the board of directors of

Target Corporation Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compon ...

, as a member of the board of trustees of

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

, and as trustee emeritus of the

National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation The National Restaurant Association is a restaurant industry business association in the United States, representing more than 380,000 restaurant locations. It also operates the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. The associa ...

. He is a former member of the board of directors of

U.S. Bancorp U.S. Bancorp (stylized as us bancorp) is an American bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and incorporated in Delaware. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, and is the fifth largest banking institution i ...

and past member of the board of overseers at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. He also serves on the board of trustees of the College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater.

Community involvement

Baker is active in the civic life of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. He serves on the executive committee of the Greater MSP Partnership, a private-public partnership whose mission is to stimulate economic growth and prosperity in the region. Baker also serves on the board of overseers of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and on the executive committee of th
Minnesota Business Partnership
an organization of CEOs from Minnesota’s top 100 companies focused on further enhancing the region’s quality of life. He is a board member o
Parent Aware for School Readiness (PASR)
a nonprofit organization to support the statewide expansion of Parent Aware, Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. Baker and his wife Julie also chaired the 201
Twin Cities United Way
fundraising campaign. Baker also was a co-chair of the host committee for Super Bowl LII, which was held in February 2018 in Minneapolis. He co-led a successful $40 million campaign for Catholic Charities to support a new campus for homeless services in downtown St. Paul.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Douglas M. American chemical industry businesspeople American technology chief executives Living people Procter & Gamble people 1958 births College of the Holy Cross alumni