Tommy Baker
Board Member
Tommy Baker is an entrepreneur and an active member of the Charleston community. After spending 25 years as an automobile dealer, Baker opened Baker Motor Co.. His company started with only one dealership and eventually expanded to seven more dealerships throughout North Carolina. Baker also founded Beacon Community Bank, which is the only privately held community bank in the Charleston area and now has multiple locations. Baker serves as chairman of the bank. He and his businesses have received multiple awards, including #1 Dealership in America and the Order of the Palmetto Award.
Baker has served as the past chair of the MUSC Children’s Hospital. He has served on the Board of Governors at the College of Charleston School of Business where he taught entrepreneurship, and he has served as the Chairman for the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Board and the Advisory Dealer Board for INFINITI. He serves on the board of directors for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, the executive leadership team for the American Heart Association Lowcountry Heart Walk, YESCarolina! As a founding board member, and the Spirit of South Carolina as co-chair. He also enlisted in the Marine Corps after his high school graduation.
Baker graduated from The Citadel, attended Harvard Business Schools’ exclusive Owner/President Management Program, received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of Charleston, and received a second Honorary Doctorate from The Citadel. He and his wife, Vickie, have three children and four grandchildren.
