Richard Baron is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of McCormack Baron & Associates in St. Louis, Missouri, a firm specializing in the development and management of mixed-income housing with an emphasis on large-scale redevelopment projects in central city locations. The firm has developed 87 projects in 24 cities, with a development cost in excess of $1.133 billion encompassing over 10,000 housing units and over one million square feet of commercial space. Its total management portfolio is in excess of 14,000 dwelling units.

Mr. Baron is the founder and developer of COCA, the Center of Contemporary Arts, in University City, a community-based visual and performing arts center that serves more than 50,000 children annually. Mr. Baron currently serves as the co-chairman of the Vashon Education Compact which has targeted 10 low-performing schools in the City of St. Louis for major transformation.

Mr. Baron serves on the Boards of the Regional Chamber and Growth Association, St. Louis Community Foundation, Downtown Now!, St. Louis 2004, Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS), the Center of Contemporary Arts (COCA), and John Burroughs School. He is currently a member of Washington University's George Warren Brown School of Social Work National Council. He is on the Advisory Board for the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy of The Brookings Institution and is a past-member of the Board of Trustees for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Mr. Baron is a graduate of Oberlin College and holds a master's degree in political science from the University of California-Berkeley and a law degree from the University of Michigan. Mr. Baron has been awarded honorary degrees from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio and from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri.