These advocates work tirelessly to help veterans succeed in the civilian workplace. Get to know who they are, what they do, and how they advocate for the veteran community.
Tiffany Baker is a Business Development at UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group). She was a Sergeant (E-5) in the Marine Corps, 1995-2001.
Champion’s Reaction:
“For most veterans, the desire to serve a purpose greater than ourselves doesn’t end when we leave the military. We often spend time searching for that opportunity within the organizations we seek or find employment with. I am blessed to have the support of my organization, peers and leadership to be able to do just that…provide an environment that attracts vets that want to feel supported in continuing to serve a higher purpose on our teams, in our company and our communities.”
Champion’s Job Responsibilities:
Tiffany is my wife and she continuously gives back to vets in every way she can imagine. That duty to serve never left her after the Marines. In 2016 she went to a new company that had other ERGs but not one for vets. She created one. The company had just 20 or some vets at the time and she has grown that to over 300 today, while increasing initiatives to hire, retain and develop vets at UKG, even landing them as a best place to work for vets a couple years ago. She takes a lot of time out from our family to send each new hire a welcome kit and card, hosting town halls, webinars for vets, virtual happy hours and more. Running UKGVets is voluntary, it’s not her day job. She has a very stressful job in software sales. I am so proud of what she has done at such a young age.
Why Baker was nominated for the Veteran Champions of the Year in Corporate America Award:
Tiffany only knows how to go above and beyond a task at hand, so if she’s going to do something, it will be the best you’ve ever seen someone do it. Sometimes, I wish she would do less for people for her own well-being, but she doesn’t know how to not always give of herself. In 2016 she joined her current company that had resource groups for Cancer Care, LGBT, Women in Leadership and a couple others. In the orientation room of 100 other people, Tiffany stood up and asked the CPO if there was a group for vets and there wasn’t. She asked to start one. She noticed there were only 26 vets out of 5,000 employees. She took off! There are now over 300 vets through training recruiters that didn’t understand how to translate military skills to civilian skills. Each new hire gets a large welcome kit of swag and a handwritten welcome letter. She hosts an annual PTSD awareness drive and webinar, she hosts a week of activities for veterans to include scavenger hunts with prizes, allowing vets to submit a charity of choice for her to donate to, a VFW of choice that she gives $1,000 to for a celebration of service, executive panels on developing veteran talent in the org, one-year and three-year anniversary gifts, book clubs, guest speakers, panel discussions with other leaders on why vets are so special in the talent pool. She has spoken for NYC SHRM on how to attract and retain vets, she has spoken for the NYC APA, and even their own customers on how to develop vet ERGs. She doesn’t get paid for any of this. All of her hard work was recognized in 2020 with Diversity Inc. debuting UKG at #11 as a best place to work, but she doesn’t do any of this for the award, she does it for the vets who share with her that “No company has ever recognized my service the way UKG has,” how grateful they are, how humbled they are, etc. She is truly an amazing soul and she takes that into our own community as well.
