About Me

Richard Baker is CEO and Founder of Premium Knowledge Group. He is an authority on the life style and shopping preferences of affluent consumers, a sought-after speaker and the author of substantial original research on the topic.

His firm’s clients include Karl Lagerfeld, Estee Lauder, Daimler-Chrysler (Maybach), Forbes and Forbes.com, Steinway Music Company, The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, LTB Media, and deBoulle Jewelers . He is a regular columnist in Lustre, the premier magazine to fine jewelers and the Founder of The Luxury Marketing Council Dallas-Fort Worth (a chapter of the International Luxury Marketing Council).

Mr. Baker gathers his insights into affluent life style from his firm’s exclusive research relationships with over 175 Boards of Directors of non-profit organizations. The proprietary research covers industries including fashion, beauty, cosmetic, travel, leisure, financial services, automotive and media categories. Based on its analysis of thousands of respondents with an average household income in excess of $240,000 Premium Knowledge Group has identified six different affluent life styles with significantly different patterns of spending and shopping. Based on this research Mr. Baker has developed a series of training programs for professionals who sell to the very affluent. He has also authored or co-authored a series of white papers and is in the process of publishing a book: Marketing Luxury to Affluent Americans. Mr. Baker has been a speaker at Luxury Marketing Councils in New York, San Francisco, Atlanta and London, U.K. He has been the keynote speaker at The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, The Luxury Retail Summit, and the Prudential Realty Conference, San Francisco and a featured speaker at the California Luxury Tourism Convention in 2007. He has been a guest lecturer at NYU’s graduate level business school.

Prior to founding Premium Knowledge Group, Mr. Baker was, for 20 years, the CEO of Baker & Company, a management consulting firm. His global clients included Robert Bosch, General Motors, and Motorola. He sold Baker & Company to J.D. Power & Associates.