George Baker is a principal of GridWorks Energy Consulting LLC, a firm whose mission is to allow the world’s electric grids and microgrids to achieve 90% renewable generation. He is also a visiting professor teaching in the Environmental Sciences and Public Policy Program at Harvard College. Previously he co-founded VCharge, a smart grid company working on the next generation of Demand Response. Until July 1, 2010, he was the Herman C. Krannert Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where he taught for 25 years. During the period 2007-2009, while on leave from Harvard, Baker was the developer of the 4.5 MW Fox Islands Wind project on the island of Vinalhaven Maine, the largest community-owned renewable energy project in the eastern US. As CEO of VCharge, Baker led the company’s successful effort to build and operate the world’s largest aggregated Transactive Load assets in New England, Pennsylvania, and the UK. He also helped develop and negotiate a 4-year contract with National Grid UK to deliver a novel Frequency Response product. These efforts culminated in the sale of the company in December 2016 to OVO Energy, a UK energy supplier.
Dr. Baker earned a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA from Harvard College. During his academic career, he helped create the field of Organizational Economics. He served for 17 years as a Director of the Swans Island Electric Coop, a consumer-owned electric distribution cooperative serving the islands of Swans Island and Frenchboro in Hancock County Maine. He spearheaded the effort to sell the Coop to Emera in 2017. George lives in Weymouth MA with his wife Lauren Jennings, a Boston attorney. He has two grown daughters.