Ronald J. Baker
VeraSage Institute
P: 707.769.0965
F: 707.781.3069
www.verasage.com
www.ronbakersucks.com
Mission: “To, once and for all, bury the billable hour in the professions”
Ronald J. Baker started his accounting career in 1984 with KPMG Peat Marwick’s Private Business Advisory Services in San Francisco. Today, he is the founder of VeraSage Institute, a think tank dedicated to teaching Value Pricing to professionals around the world.
As a frequent speaker at events and conferences, and a consultant to professional service firms on implementing Total Quality Service and Value Pricing, his work takes him around the world. He has been an instructor with the California CPA Education Foundation since 1995 and has authored twelve courses for them: How to Build a Successful Practice with Total Quality Service; The Shift From Hourly Billing to Value Pricing; Value Pricing Graduate Seminar; You Are What You Charge For: Success in Today’s Emerging Experience Economy (with Daniel Morris); Alternatives to the Federal Income Tax; Trashing the Timesheet: A Declaration of Independence; Everyday Economics; The Firm of the Future; Everyday Ethics: Doing Well by Doing Good (with Daniel Morris); The New Business Equation for Industry Executives; Specialists Make More Money (with Michelle Golden); and When Debits Don’t Equal Credits and Other Future Trends in the Accounting Profession (with Daniel Morris).
He is the author of the best-selling marketing book ever written specifically for the professions, Professional’s Guide to Value Pricing, Sixth Edition, published by CCH, Incorporated. The book has been ranked #1 on amazon.com in Australia and New Zealand. Also, Burying the Billable Hour, Trashing the Timesheet, and You Are Your Customer List, published by The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom. His most recent book, Measure What Matters to Customers: Using Key Predictive Indicators, was published in September 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The Firm of the Future: A Guide for Accountants, Lawyers, and Other Professional Services, co-authored with Paul Dunn, was published in April 2003 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and was the 2003 Book of the Year on SmartPros.com and is in its fourth printing. Pricing on Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value, was published in February 2006 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).
Ron has toured the world, spreading his Value Pricing message to over 70,000 professionals. He has been appointed to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant’s Group of One Hundred, a think tank of leaders to address the future of the profession, named on Accounting Today’s 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 Top 100 Most Influential People in the profession, and received the 2003 Award for Instructor Excellence from the California CPA Education Foundation.
He graduated in 1984 from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and a minor in economics. He is a graduate of Disney University, Cato University, and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business course: Pricing: Strategy and Tactics. He is a member of the Professional Pricing Society and presently resides in Petaluma, California.