Barry is a leader of sustainability initiatives and consultant with Change Agency specialising in strategic planning and governance for organisations which bring together the private, public and voluntary sectors to effect social, economic and environmental change.
He has been widely recognized for his successful leadership of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) as a member of the governing Council for the past six years and as Chair from December 2016 to June this year. BCI has been a highly effective multi-stakeholder initiative in driving environmental and economic improvements in the world’s most widely grown agricultural crop. Its members include major brands such as Adidas, H&M, IKEA, Marks & Spencer and Nike.
He also served on the Board of the Alliance for Water Stewardship where he led the development of the strategic plan and worked closely with global brand owners including Diageo, Mars and Nestlé.
His consulting work has included the design and development of the strategic plan to 2030 for IDH – the sustainability initiative funded by the Dutch, Swiss and Danish governments with programs to drive sustainable global trade across 12 different sectors in partnership with the world’s most powerful brands and financial institutions.
He has also provided strategic advice and operational guidance to Textile Exchange, the Sustainable Agriculture Network, the Organic Cotton Accelerator, the Social and Labor Convergence Project (SLCP), the Global Coffee Platform and ISEAL – the global membership association for credible sustainability standards.
Barry has over 20 years’ experience of governance and strategic planning at the highest level. He was chair of Save the Children UK and subsequently twice appointed chair of the then $1.2 billion International Save the Children Alliance whose 30 members employed over 10,000 staff working in more than 100 countries.
In his professional career, Barry was a pioneer in sales promotion and, after his company had been acquired by the Omnicom Group, was the founding chair of Proximity London.