Jesse Brandon Baker (EMBA ’21)

2020 John Wooden Global Leadership Fellow 


Jesse Brandon Baker (EMBA ’21)

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Jesse Brandon Baker (EMBA ’21)

Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service

In 2022, the Super Bowl will be played in Los Angeles, and UCLA Anderson Executive MBA student Jesse Brandon Baker will oversee its security. What qualifies him to handle the NFL’s biggest event of the year? For starters, Baker is the Secret Service agent in charge of the Los Angeles field office. He has also led the Presidential Protective Detail (yes, the legendary team that protects the commander-in-chief), and managed security for the Rose Bowl as well as political conventions.

Baker’s work has exposed him to people and situations that shape his leadership abilities and his aptitude for collaboration. In the Secret Service, he says, “everyone is committed to success — and to each other. Your mind has to be in the game, 100%. You are living up to the mantra of ‘worthy of trust and confidence.’”

In 2018, he attended the annual John Wooden Global Leadership Awards and aspired then and there to become a Wooden Fellow. Entering UCLA Anderson the following year, he was influenced by the diversity of thought among his classmates, and their willingness to share success. Now, even from the distance that pandemic imposes, his EMBA cohort is cooperative and helpful. “There’s great intellectual ability in our class,” he says. “People consistently demonstrate incredible ingenuity and insight.”

Baker looks forward to the next phase of a rewarding career. He is excited about future opportunities to pivot and apply the value of his skills in the private sector.

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