Baker Takes Cawley Wilcox Post

Effective Monday, Philip C. Baker steps into the role to end a five-month run as executive vice president in Dallas for CB Richard Ellis Inc. Baker assumed the CBRE post last July with the merger of Insignia/ESG, where he was executive director for about a year before the industry-shaking merger. CBRE has declined comment on Baker's departure.

Baker's exit strategy is in keeping with talk around town that began long before the I/ESG and CBRE merger that he was looking to leave the national "Big Top" and return to his roots as a top executive for a local firm. The rumor mill started churning in late 2002 about a year after he sold his 10-year-old, 16-broker firm to I/ESG and relinquished his grip on a "go-to" reputation for Las Colinas and northeastern Tarrant County deal-making that grew out of a 14-year stint as executive vice president for the Las Colinas Corp.

Baker, who spent the holiday in Europe, will be stepping into a position vacated in October 2002 by J. Reagan Dixon, who held the post for better than a year after his departure as leader of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. Baker, like Dixon, is a longtime friend of Bill Cawley. "This new alignment will provide me with the opportunity to join in his vision for Cawley Wilcox," Baker said in a press release issued New Year's Eve.

In recent years, Cawley Wilcox, which has offices in Illinois and Dallas, scaled back as most companies did to stay aligned with the economy. But predictions that 2004 will be a banner year undoubtedly played some role in the decision to hire and one that tapped a well-known top executive whose old stomping grounds are once again hotspots of opportunity for development and leasing alike.