About Us

Dr. Bill Baker taught business communication in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University for many years before giving up on his search for the ideal textbook. Every book he tried was too expensive, too boring, or too long. Finally, he decided to do something about it. In 2007, with encouragement from his fellow faculty, he published the first edition of Writing and Speaking for Business (now published as Professional Writing and Speaking).

Listening carefully to feedback from faculty and students, Bill has continued to develop and refine the book. In 2015 he teamed up with his son Matt to create the fourth edition. In 2020, they were joined by Vince Robles to create the fifth edition. Through all editions, the goals have remained the same—to produce an affordable,  concise, "how-to" textbook that prepares students to communicate effectively in today's workplace. Perhaps the book's greatest tribute is that most of the thousands of students who have used the book have kept it for reference throughout their careers. 
"The earlier edition was one of my favorite textbooks and perhaps the only one I've referenced multiple times since graduating."
Josh Thompson

William H. Baker, EdD

Before a career change to devote his full time to Professional Writing and Speaking, Bill was a management communication professor in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University. At BYU he was the coordinator of management communication and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in written and oral communication. Along with supervising the work of 22 adjunct professors, he coached teams that represented the Marriott School in national and international case competitions.

During his career, Bill served as a senior analyst at the headquarters of Kemper Insurance Companies in Chicago. He also performed training for both business and government organizations. He was a video trainer and an author or coauthor of many scholarly articles and several textbooks. He is also the creator of GoREACT, an internet-based real-time video feedback system used in over 600 colleges and universities throughout the country (see goreact.com).

Bill received many teaching honors, including the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award, given to only 3 of more than 1,500 faculty members per year. Bill’s educational degrees include a bachelor’s degree from Southern Utah University, a master’s degree from Brigham Young University, and a doctorate degree from Oklahoma State University.

Matthew J. Baker, PhD, MBA

Matt Baker earned a BA in economics and an MBA from Brigham Young University and completed a PhD in rhetoric and professional communication from Iowa State University. He is currently an assistant professor in the linguistics department at Brigham Young University.

Matt's research areas include editing, employment communication, social technologies, and professional communication. He uses qualitative methods and quantitative content analysis to analyze text, especially text that provides feedback through social technologies.

Matt worked professionally as a financial application consultant, client services manager, and quality assurance manager for GOLDPoint Systems. As part of his professional experience, he functioned as communication liaison for a key client at GOLDPoint Systems; consulted for Adobe Systems where he standardized the visual design of industry primers across Adobe; and interned with Zions Bancorporation where he assisted with and documented a big-data, predictive analytics study that was eventually submitted to the Federal Reserve and presented at a banking and analytics conference. He loves business communication and can attest of the positive influence effective communication has had on his professional and academic careers.

Vincent D. Robles, PhD

Vince Robles earned a BA in English from Wayland Baptist University, an MA in technical communication from Texas Tech University, and a PhD in rhetoric and professional communication from Iowa State University. He is currently a lecturer at University of Central Florida.
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Vince's research areas include technical and professional communication pedagogy and technical marketing communication. He uses qualitative methods and quantitative content analysis to analyze texts, especially online content. He enjoys technical and professional communication and loves helping others to improve their communication skills for professional success.

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