Charlie Baker
President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Former Governor of Massachusetts
Charlie Baker assumed the duties as the NCAA's sixth president in 2023, after serving two terms as the 72nd governor of the state of Massachusetts.
A former collegiate athlete at Harvard, Baker is credited with bringing bipartisan leadership to the state, successfully guiding Massachusetts through an exceptionally turbulent period for government officials. In addition to his two terms as governor, he has brought decades of experience spearheading transformations at high-profile institutions in the private and public sectors.
Baker arrived at the NCAA at a moment of significant transformation. Legal shifts in the environment surrounding college sports have challenged the NCAA's ability to serve as an effective national regulator for college athletics, resulting in an untenable patchwork of individual state laws. Partnering with federal policymakers to develop a consistent, sustainable legal framework to address issues common to student-athletes and athletic departments across the country is a top and immediate priority.
A Republican governor serving a predominantly Democratic state, Baker was re-elected to a second term in 2018 with 67 percent of the vote. After eight years in office, he achieved approval ratings exceeding 75 percent, making him the highest-rated governor in the United States and one of the highest-rated elected representatives in the nation. Baker earned widespread support by taking on issues with significant real-world impacts, and approaching them in substantive, innovative and bipartisan ways. Among his accomplishments during his two terms in office, Baker unleashed unprecedented investment into Massachusetts's K-12 education system, eliminated the state's structural budget deficit while cutting taxes, and led the nation in securing renewable energy sources to respond to climate change. As governor, Baker oversaw a 43,000-member workforce and was responsible for a $50 billion annual budget.