Eli Baker

Elihu "Eli" Joseph Baker (born January 10th, 1932) is the 28th and current president of Quintessence of Dust.

Early life

Baker was born to wealthy parents in Dareb, Starkresh, but spent most of his childhood growing up on their estate in Eastling. His family's secure financial status and geographic distance from the epicentre of the Second Civil War meant he saw less of its immediate effects than many of his generation, but he developed a profound interest in the politics of Reconsolidation, later writing a two-volume history of the period, The New Nation. More local influences came from the family farm, where he developed a love of nature as well as a strong interest in preserving the commercial viability of agriculture, and the frustrations of poor rural transportation networks, which he came to believe constituted the greatest disadvantage to economic development. He attended the private Georgian Academy, where he excelled at both academic work and sports, and then took a year out to help manage the family farm before heading to the University of Zyarn to read economics. He completed his education at Blaubeck University, where he earned his J.D. in 1959. Already politically active, he helped campaign for Artellius Kryager and the Liberal Party in the elections of 1952 and 1956.

Business career

Commercial law

Following graduation, Baker secured a lucrative position in the legal department of shipping giant QuodLine Express, based in Cleanport, West Sponson. Although he was considered brilliantly adept, gaining promotion after promotion and often being entrusted with the most challenging cases, he became increasingly frustrated with the seemingly insurmountable complexity of the tax codes with which he was dealing, the simplification of which was to become one of the cornerstones of his political philosophy. After five years in Cleanport, during which he had saved scrupulously and invested wisely, he moved to Highmark City to establish his own commercial law firm with two friends from university, Robert Waters and Keith Bellingham. After some tough early years, they managed to gain several important contracts and began to rise to prominence as one of the leading agencies. Baker argued several times before the Supreme Court.