Paxton K. Baker - The Congressional Award

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paxton-baker
The Congressional Award: https://www.congressionalaward.org/
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Paxton K. Baker is an American businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist, who has served in the entertainment, music, sports and production industries for over 30 years.

Mr. Baker is a minority owner of the Washington Nationals Baseball club and currently serves as chairman of the Washington Nationals Founding Partners Group.  He is also currently a part of the ownership groups for the Old Glory DC Rugby Football Club and Cape Town Tigers Basketball Club, which competes in the NBA Africa/Basketball Africa League (BAL).  He currently serves as a governing Board Member of the Global Sports Summit, a private and exclusive gathering of global professional sports franchise owners and industry leaders.  Mr. Baker has held ownership interest in both the Washington Kastles World Team Tennis League and Washington Spirit National Women’s Soccer League, with each team becoming reigning champions during his tenure.

In 2018, Baker launched the Washington, D.C., office of Liquid Soul, the agency behind the marketing and promotion of such blockbuster films as Black Panther and Fast & Furious 6. 

For 16 years, Mr. Baker served as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of CENTRIC (formerly BETJ), BET’s complementary network targeting the African American and multicultural adult. Baker was also President of BET Event Productions, which produced music festivals, award shows, TV specials and concerts throughout the world.

Affiliated with a number of professional, civic and cultural organizations, Mr. Baker is a member of the board of directors for the United States Senate Preservation Trust, Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz and Wilberforce University, the nation’s oldest private, historically black university.

In 2006, Mr. Baker was appointed by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to serve as a member of The Congressional Award Foundation National Board of Directors, the only official charity of the United States Congress. Shortly thereafter he was elected to serve as Vice Chairman and then Chairman of the Board in 2007 to present.

In 2022, Mr. Baker was elected to join the Board of the Washington Nationals Philanthropies, the charitable arm of the Washington Nationals.  He also serves on the Board of WAMU, Washington DC’s NPR station and is an inaugural Board Member for the Trucking Cares Foundation, a non-profit developed under the American Trucking Associations designed to improve the safety, security and sustainability of America’s highways.