Biography

Vernon Baker is senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of ArvinMeritor Inc., a $7.0-billion, premier global supplier of a broad range of integrated systems, modules and components for light vehicle, commercial truck, trailer and specialty original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and related aftermarkets. In this position, he has overall legal responsibility for all of ArvinMeritor's global operations and its subsidiaries. In addition, Baker directs all legal activities in the corporation, including corporate governance; acquisitions and divestitures; litigation; business standards compliance; regulatory compliance; and intellectual property. Before the July 2000 merger of Arvin Inc. and Meritor Automotive Inc., he was senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of Meritor, a global supplier of components and systems for commercial, specialty and light vehicle OEMs and the aftermarket.

Before joining Meritor in 1999, Baker spent 17 years at Hoechst Celanese Corp., where he was vice president and general counsel, Corporate Research and Technology. Prior to that, he served as associate general counsel for Hoechst's Advanced Material Group. Baker began his professional career in 1978 as an associate with the law firm of Schnader, Harrison, Segal and Lewis. Two years later, he joined the Corporate Law Department of Scott Paper Co.

Baker holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N. H., and a Juris Doctorate from American University, Washington College of Law, in Washington, D.C.