LEADERSHIP

"EXCELLENCE IS A HABIT, NOT AN EVENT." -DAVID A. THOMAS

Dorien C. Baker operates at the intersection of community, capital, and culture. A financial services professional at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, his career reflects more than a decade of involvement in civic leadership, banking, government, institutional strategy, and entrepreneurship. From grassroots initiatives to global financial institutions, his work has been shaped by a belief that relationships, preparation, and thoughtful execution can create opportunities far beyond the circumstances in which they begin.

Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Dorien began his leadership journey well before entering the professional workforce. As a high school student, he co-founded a student advocacy forum that grew to nearly 20,000 members, connecting students across Illinois with academic resources, standardized testing preparation, and mental health support. The initiative reflected an early interest in building systems that could serve communities at scale, even without the resources or infrastructure of an established institution.

He served on the Art Institute of Chicago's Teen Council, helping develop programming intended to make the arts more accessible to young audiences. His involvement with the DuSable Museum of African American History included fundraising for its Women's Board, while his work with the City of Chicago extended across the Office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Office of Budget and Management, and the Department of Finance. There, he undertook research into municipal operations, workflow improvements, and revenue recovery strategies.

Dorien also collaborated with Illinois Institute of Technology and TransUnion on a guide introducing high school students to responsible credit usage, bringing financial literacy into his broader youth advocacy work. His early involvement extended to organizations and initiatives connected with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, ComEd, Exelon, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Financial Services Pipeline Initiative, and Urban Gateways' Street Level program. He also served as a Cook County Judge of Election, reinforcing a longstanding commitment to civic participation and public institutions.

By the time he left Chicago for Morehouse College, Dorien had accumulated hundreds of community service hours and developed an understanding of leadership grounded in both institutional relationships and direct community engagement.

At Morehouse College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Dorien expanded his leadership across student government, institutional affairs, external relations, and philanthropy. He founded the Student Advisory Board under the dean's office, creating an additional channel for student concerns to reach college leadership, and collaborated with the neighboring Spelman College community on initiatives addressing student safety and campus life.

As a Morehouse Presidential Ambassador, he represented the college in engagements involving distinguished business, political, and cultural leaders. Working with college administrators, executive leadership, and trustees, he helped identify and elevate issues affecting the student experience, developing relationships that extended beyond his undergraduate years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dorien participated in the White House Office of Public Engagement's Student Community Corps initiative, joining briefings designed to equip student leaders with information and resources to support public-health awareness across their respective institutions. Representing the Morehouse community, he helped communicate federal guidance concerning vaccination, masking, social distancing, and other preventive measures, while supporting efforts to counter public-health misinformation and pandemic-related fraud. The experience extended his student leadership into a national public-engagement effort, connecting federal officials with student representatives at a time when colleges and universities faced unprecedented public-health challenges.

His responsibilities also included serving as Student Chair for Morehouse's 2021 Commencement exercises, directing a team of 40 student volunteers and supporting complex event logistics. In his senior year, at the direction of the College's Vice President of External Relations and Alumni Engagement, Dorien helped revitalize the previously inactive United Negro College Fund Pre-Alumni Association. Under his leadership as Chair and Co-President, the organization expanded to more than 250 members and developed programming around philanthropy, career development, and institutional engagement.

He subsequently served as Student Gala Chair for the 2022 A Candle in the Dark Gala, coordinating 65 student volunteers and contributing to the execution of one of Morehouse's signature fundraising events. His campus involvement also included serving as External Relations Director for the Campus Alliance for Student Activities, where he drew upon relationships across corporate america to support organizational development and programming.

In recognition of his contributions, Dorien was named 2021 HBCU Transcendent Leader by HBCU Tour. Beyond formal leadership positions, he mentored fellow Morehouse and Spelman students, connected peers with professional opportunities, and supported institutional fundraising efforts.

His interests in finance and public service also intersected through an internship with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In 2020, he was recognized by WayUp as the nation's top intern, an early professional distinction that reflected his developing interest in financial institutions, public policy, and economic systems.

While in Atlanta, Dorien also participated in political and civic initiatives associated with the campaigns of Ray McGuire, Michael Bloomberg, Joe Biden, Jon Ossoff, and Raphael Warnock. He contributed to the founding team of Positivity Water, an emerging Black-owned beverage business, and continued supporting youth development, education, and community organizations, including Jack and Jill of America. His involvement across these initiatives accounted for thousands of additional service hours.

Following Morehouse, Dorien joined Citibank, part of Citigroup, one of the world's largest financial institutions. As a Senior Business Analyst within U.S. Personal Banking, he gained experience across Decision Management Analytics and Connected Commerce, working on initiatives involving consumer financial products, digital commerce, commercial strategy, and operational execution.

His work included sourcing and analyzing direct-to-consumer merchant data, conducting competitive research, and developing merchant intelligence to support CitiPay's commercial engagement efforts. He helped organize stakeholder information, identify potential partnership opportunities, and support outreach strategies across the evolving payments and consumer financing landscape.

Operating within a highly regulated environment, Dorien also coordinated with legal, compliance, and business stakeholders on nondisclosure agreement tracking and related operational workflows. His responsibilities included supporting executive reporting, organizing recurring business reviews, and contributing research and analysis to help commercial teams navigate complex decisions.

In addition to his responsibilities within U.S. Personal Banking, Dorien served on Citi Wealth Management's Alternative Investments Task Force, contributing to an initiative focused on expanding access to the firm's investment platform for diverse asset managers. Working alongside senior leadership, including the firm's ESG leadership, he leveraged his relationships across the investment management and institutional communities to facilitate discussions with prominent diverse asset managers and pension fund stakeholders. His contributions included identifying qualified prospective managers, examining institutional barriers to platform participation, and exploring alternative investment structures, including fund-of-funds approaches, that could broaden access to underrepresented investment managers. The experience deepened his understanding of alternative investments, manager selection, wealth management distribution, and the complexities of advancing institutional change within a global financial institution.

Beyond his primary responsibilities, Dorien became actively involved in initiatives designed to strengthen Citi's institutional culture and relationships with historically Black colleges and universities. He served on the Citi HBCU Awareness Steering Committee and the Black Heritage Network's New York Strategic Development Committee and was selected as a Citi Changemaker in 2023.

Through these platforms, he contributed to professional development programming, recruitment engagement, and firm-wide conversations involving senior leadership, employees, and external stakeholders. His efforts reflected an interest in institutional leadership that extended beyond the responsibilities of his formal position.

Dorien continued his community service during his tenure at Citi, receiving the President's Volunteer Service Award in 2022 and 2023. The recognition continued a pattern established much earlier in his life: treating service and professional achievement as complementary responsibilities rather than competing priorities.

After departing Citi, Dorien pursued a period of entrepreneurship and independent professional work, broadening his experience beyond the structure of a large financial institution.

Through dcb world, his former independent consulting and advisory practice, he worked with founders, investors, nonprofit organizations, and emerging enterprises on challenges involving strategy, market positioning, institutional development, and operational execution. His work ranged from supporting established organizations seeking to modernize internal processes to helping younger ventures refine their commercial models and prepare for growth.

He assisted a Black economic-empowerment cooperative with membership development, internship infrastructure, and the implementation of AI-enabled operational tools. He supported a European technology company's entry into the United States, contributing to implementation planning and market positioning, and developed Python-based automation for educational research and data collection intended to reduce manual work for school systems.

His experience also extended into private equity, where he worked with a lower-middle-market investment platform on deal sourcing, financial modeling, due diligence, and investment evaluation. He helped develop deal-tracking systems, incorporated AI-supported workflows into research and underwriting processes, and prepared scenario analyses and investment materials used to evaluate potential opportunities.

These experiences provided exposure to the practical considerations surrounding business ownership, capital allocation, management teams, and enterprise value. They also reinforced an understanding that strong ideas require equally strong execution, particularly when resources are limited and outcomes depend on aligning multiple stakeholders.

Across his independent work, Dorien also collaborated with nonprofit leaders, creators, entrepreneurs, and cultural organizations on strategic positioning, business development, and institutional relationships. Projects included advising a heritage-focused apparel brand on its commercial direction, supporting emerging digital platforms, and working with individuals navigating the intersection of media, entrepreneurship, and professional identity.

His involvement in cultural programming included serving as Senior Advisor to South House NYC, a nightlife collective recognized by Essence among the East Coast's notable party organizations. In this capacity, he supported event operations, guest experience, venue relationships, and programming across multiple markets. The work brought together his interests in hospitality, cultural relevance, and the operational discipline required to execute high-profile experiences.

Internationally, he also contributed to preliminary planning for an approximately 1,800-acre coastal development opportunity in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, helping coordinate discussions among landowners, designers, and prospective development partners. His involvement included facilitating early-stage alignment and preliminary proposal activity involving a global architectural firm.

Alongside these professional pursuits, Dorien maintained his commitment to institutional service and relationship-building. He supported initiatives involving Council of Urban Professionals and Harvard Business School's African-American Alumni Association, including fundraising-related programming, and participated in convenings such as the Milken Institute Global Conference, the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference, and Executive Leadership Council gatherings.

His broader affiliations have included the Recording Academy, the National Urban League of Young Professionals, the NAACP, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the National Association of Securities Professionals, and Wall Street Friends. Across these communities, his interests have consistently centered on bringing together individuals and institutions that might otherwise operate in separate circles.

In October 2026, Dorien returned to corporate financial services, joining Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, one of the nation's leading wealth management businesses. As a member of the firm's Virtual Engagement Associate program, he supports financial advisor practices through digital engagement, communications, and outreach initiatives.

The transition represents a natural progression of his experience across consumer banking, private capital, business development, technology, and institutional relationships. Having worked within a global banking organization and subsequently navigated the challenges of entrepreneurship and independent advisory work, he brings a broader perspective to the wealth management industry and the relationships that underpin it.

Dorien's professional interests continue to be shaped by the intersection of finance, enterprise, and long-term economic opportunity, alongside a commitment to learning, service, and the institutions that have influenced his journey.

Beyond his professional work, he maintains a longstanding appreciation for the arts, music, hospitality, technology, and cultural exchange. His experiences across these worlds have reinforced a defining principle of his career: meaningful influence is not measured solely by access to people or institutions, but by the opportunities created through those relationships.

For Dorien, leadership has never been confined to a title, an institution, or a particular stage of his career. It is the responsibility to leave people, organizations, and communities better positioned than he found them.

"WHAT WOULD YOU ATTEMPT TO DO IF YOU KNEW YOU COULD NOT FAIL." -MARK MASON