Maxine Baker receives the Richard B. Barker Award for Outstanding and Exemplary Service

At the May 10, 2011 Annual Meeting of The Barker Foundation, Maxine B. Baker received The Richard B. Barker Award for Outstanding and Exemplary Service to the Barker Foundation. The award is the highest accolade given annually by The Barker Foundation, a non-profit comprehensive adoption agency headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, with satellite offices in the District of Columbia and Falls Church, Virginia. 

In making the presentation, outgoing Board Chair, John Duff, noted that Ms. Baker first served on the Barker Foundation Board of Trustees in the 1990’s and was called to serve again from 2007-2011.  He cited her many significant contributions to Barker, particularly in the area of Leadership and Board Governance, about which she is passionate, as well as her tremendous support for Barker’s older child adoption program, Project Wait No Longer, which places children from the public foster care system into Barker adoptive homes.  Duff recounted Ms. Baker’s many notable professional achievements, including a long tenure as President and CEO of  the Freddie Mac Foundation and Vice-President of Community Relations, where she led one of the DC Region’s largest corporate philanthropy programs. Ms. Baker is a founding director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and is herself the proud parent of two daughters adopted through The Barker Foundation.

The inscription on the beautiful award read: “The Richard B. Barker Award, presented to Maxine B. Baker, with deep respect for her uncommon gifts of leadership in the child welfare field. She challenged us to reach higher, embrace a broader community, and `wait no longer’ on behalf of children in need of permanency.”

Bob Long presents John Duff with The Richard B. Barker Award at the organization’s May Annual Meeting

John M. Duff, Jr. was also honored at the May 10, 2011 Annual Meeting with The Richard B. Barker Award. John was elected to the office of Chair of the Board of Trustees for the two-year term from 2009 to 2011, after serving as a Trustee from 2007-2009. In presenting the award, Immediate Past President, Bob Long, noted that under John’s leadership, the organization experienced growth and increased financial strength. During his tenure, initiatives around technology, development, and strategic planning were begun, and younger programs like Project Wait No Longer took hold and flourished. Bob also noted that John is a steward for future generations and has given his time and resources to KIPP Charter Schools, the World Affairs Council, and colleges and law schools. John is a Managing Director of Duff Ackerman Goodrich LLC and DAG Ventures, a private equity and venture capital firm based primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, John and his wife, Viki, are Barker adoptive parents of a son and a daughter.

The inscription on John’s award read: The Richard B. Barker Award, presented to John M. Duff, Jr., in gratitude for his wise, compassionate, and visionary leadership, his business acumen, his great gift of consensus building, and his unfailing dedication to the best interests of all children.”