Tom Baker
Commercial Office Consultant

OfficeLease

• http://www.officelease.com

Helping business owners make the right decisions on their changing office space requirements.

Finding relevant connections with like minded entrepreneurial professionals. This leads to several layers of opportunities within our businesses and between our existing partners.

Business leaders who are contemplating their changing requirements, related to their office space and their ability to recruit and retain the right talent.

UNiversity of Nebraska BS, Broadcast Journalism Minors in English, Speech & Grography.

1969 Tom starts his first commercial enterprise, a paper route. He quickly becomes the envy of his grade school classmates with his impressive baseball card collection and he freely gives the accompanying gum away to unsuspecting friends. 1976 Tom earns the coveted Eagle Scout award. He keeps this secret from friends and classmates and threatens to reveal humiliating secrets of the few classmates who know if they choose to disclose. 1981 Ready to chase his dream of producing movies, he earns his degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Nebraska (the closest thing to cinematography offered at Nebraska). An enlightening tour of the mess called Los Angeles and Hollywood sends him back home to pursue sanity and a career in television production. 1986 After five years of producing television shows (including a live telethon for the zoo including llamas, tigers and raptors in the studio), he realizes the real money is to be found elsewhere and takes a position in Advertising Sales.
1989 While serving as one of the top 3 producers in new advertising revenue at an ABC affiliate, Tom follows a whim and appears in his first television commercial. It's the first of dozens and he becomes a familiar face to total strangers in random places like the grocery store and (unfortunately) the shower at the gym. 1990 He buys his first brand new car; a 1990 Mustang GT convertible. With less than 25 miles on the odometer, he is pulled over for speeding. He uses his communication skills to negotiate a simple warning. 1991 After connecting the dots from the past many years, Tom opens his first official (and licensed) business, an advertising agency. Working from his home, he serves his clients as a media buyer and project manager. He serves himself by working on his golf game. 1993 Tom gets his first taste of Seattle on a business trip while traveling across the I-90 bridge on "one of those days". He sets a new goal to live in Seattle and starts working on making it happen. 1997 After three years Tom finally moves to Seattle with no job and knowing only one person in the entire city. Once he gets here, he immediately realizes the value of never giving up. 2001 After only four years in Seattle, Tom is offered the opportunity to serve as President of the Seattle Advertising Federation (now called Ad Club Seattle). With the help of the Board, he doubled program attendance, quadrupled club revenue, and increased membership by 31%. He also reinstated the ancient tradition of serving alcohol during club luncheon programs. 2004 Realizing the value of his vast business network, he opens his own sales consulting business; Lighthouse 5. He serves as an independent sales representative for numerous partners and clients and is still looking for a logical and rational explanation for the name of his company. 2006 Tom earns his WA Real Estate License and starts practicing as a Commercial Real Estate Agent, specializing in tenant representation and assisting his client companies select and negotiate their office space.