Cross & Crescent

Rick Baker (Florida State 1977) is serving his second term as mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida. His focus is to maintain and increase the quality of life in the city. He has been very successful in this, as he was named 2008 Mayor of the Year by Governing Magazine.

“I look at it as a reflection of how well people see the city right now. While I hope I helped, I don’t take all the credit,””says Baker. “I refer to the city as a 25-year, overnight success because so many people have worked for many years to bring the city where it is today. I am blessed to be part of it, and I certainly haven’t been the only one.”

Florida State

Baker attended Florida State University where he joined Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Two guys who lived next door in the dormitory to Baker went through fall rush and became affiliated with Lambda Chi. They invited Baker to the house to meet the brothers and he soon joined the Fraternity.
“Lambda Chi has the reputation of being one of the great fraternities on the FSU campus and just some of the guys I knew in the fraternity (is why I joined),” he says.

While in college, Baker got his first taste of politics. A brother, Steve Powell (Florida State 1978), was student body president while Baker was a sophomore. There was an opening in the student senate and Powell appointed Baker, who went on to be president of the Student Senate and senior class president.

Baker was also involved in the Fraternity. He attended national conferences and served as president of the chapter.

“I think the greatest thing I got from Lambda Chi was my year as president; it was a great learning experience for me,” says Baker. “As the president of a fraternity you are running a boarding house, a kitchen, and social services organization. You have all kinds of complications that are associated with that and you are doing it when you are 21 years old.”

Baker also says the guys he met in college are an important part of who he is today. He continues to be close friends with many brothers. He also said it was great to have all the contacts when he got out into the business world.

“I learned a lot on how to work with people, how to work on challenging issues as they come up,” says Baker, “I think I grew a lot because of that. I usually cite being the president of a fraternity as one of the greatest learning experiences I have ever had.”

Becoming Mayor

Following his undergraduate work, Baker earned both his MBA and law degree and then practiced law for 19 years. He then decided to run for mayor of St. Petersburg.

“I have always been attracted to the mayor job which is a strong-mayor form of government, where the mayor runs the city,”” says Baker. “I had been involved in a lot of civic and charitable organizations and I felt if my objective was to make things better in the community the job of mayor would be a great opportunity at that.”

Baker’s mantra of maintaining and increasing the quality of life for the people who live here is one he takes seriously. He has worked on public safety, economic development, bringing in jobs, and expanding parks and recreation centers. The city also has built a vibrant downtown.

“I focused very strongly on our midtown, which was our largest low income part of the city, my first four years and it really led the renaissance,” says Baker. It has been one of the greatest turnarounds in the country of an inner-city area.”

Under Baker’s watch the city has seen a 250 percent increase in the number of top-tier schools in the city. It has launched a city green initiative and built bike paths and set a goal of having a public playground within a half mile of every child in the city.

Baker will leave office in January 2010 but hasn’t thought about any future ambitions yet.

“I have had two careers now and will be looking for a third. I want it to be something that I think will help the community and help move things forward,” says Baker “”But for the near future I am just going to focus on the job I have.”

Lambda Chi and Centennial

“There is great value in developing the bonds of friendship you develop in college. It is very interesting how in no other phase of your life you develop such strong relationships that continue with you for the rest of your life,” he says. “I think part of it is because you are in such a transitional time of your life to develop these relationships. The best thing I have gotten out of it is the friendships I have developed. To be part of an organization like Lambda Chi that brings folks together is a great thing.”