Richard J. Baker, CEO and Research Director
richard@texasluxury.net
Richard Baker graduated as valedictorian from the University of Dallas and served 3 years as an officer in the United States Navy. He began his business career at the Bloom Agency (now Publicis), where he worked on several categories of high-end consumer goods and services including jewelry, second home/resort property and cosmetics.
In 1979 he founded a management consulting firm with renowned social psychologist David A. Kolb. Baker & Company’s largest clients included Kodak, Bosch and numerous divisions of General Motors including Cadillac, Pontiac, and Corporate Marketing Educational Services. In 1999 he sold many of the assets and methodologies of his firm to J.D. Power and Associates, joining them to head the Consulting Division and conduct research into customer loyalty in 13 industries including automotive, hotel, travel and financial services.
In 2003 while developing market research techniques for the affluent market, Richard discovered the existence of Luxury Marketing Council in New York City. Impressed by the value created by the council for its members, Richard (through Premium Knowledge Group) licensed the rights for the Council for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Involvement in the Council allows Richard to apply experience gained in years of consulting in the business-to-business environment along with his knowledge of affluent consumers through Premium Knowledge Group research.
Pamela Martin-Duarte, Ambassador to Texas, Luxury Marketing Council
pamela.martin@mac.com
Pamelas experience includes many years of work in all forms of media, public relations, marketing and event planning. In 1997 she founded Martin Management & Promotions in New York, Dallas and Miami which assisted a wide variety of business entities in the production of high profile events.
Prior to Martin Management & Promotions, Pamela served as a Broadcast Media Representative and National Advertising Sales Assistant with Petry Media Corp/Blair Television in New York. She managed national sales of spot advertising for stations around the country as well as ad buys with major advertising agencies in New York. She also gained experience with Post Newsweek Stations ABC Affiliate in Miami, Florida by assisting the director of Programming and Promotions. Pamela also worked in the production side of news where she served as Production Assistant on Daily/Nightly News as well as The Don Shula Show and Investigative Reports.
Connie Wald, Membership Services
connie@texasluxury.net
Connie’s background includes product development, new product introductions, advertising, promotion and merchandising. She has worked for retailers, cosmetic marketers and advertising agencies. Her most recent assignment was Vice President of Marketing for Neiman Marcus.
She began her career at Carson Pirie Scott in Chicago, later holding buyer positions for Robinson’s in Los Angeles and Gimbel’s in New York. While at Avon Products, she served as Sr. Marketing Manager for their make-up brands. Connie then joined Hakudoho Advertising as Vice President. She developed, positioned and promoted high-end skincare brands destined for introduction in Japan.
Two years later, Connie joined the Conair Corporation as head of their in-house ad agency. In this capacity she directed all account and creative functions for Conair, Southwestern Bell Retail and Cuisinart products.
Pat Baker, Membership Services
pat@texasluxury.net
With over 15 years of national media and sponsorship sales, Pat has worked in New York, Chicago and Dallas with the Interep Companies, Emmis Broadcasting, ABC Radio Networks and WestwoodOne Radio Networks. She has negotiated national broadcast sponsorships of the NCAA Final Four, NFL Football, The Grammy’s, as well as legendary radio personalities including Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern and Paul Harvey.
Shay Knippa, Membership Services
shay@texasluxury.net
Shay has the great ability to manage projects from the big picture, to the smallest of details. She is skilled in event planning and managing fund raising projects. Her career experience is in sales, marketing and management in both the mortgage and banking industries.