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Biography
William E Barker PO Box 1593 ∙ Fairfield, CT 06825 ∙ 203 257 4030 ∙wbarker@jeanelton.com BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE William Barker is a successful business executive, director on corporate and non profit boards, and a senior leader in his community. He has held positions as President, Managing Director, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and has worked in Fortune corporations, private equity firms, small businesses and startups. His experience spans a broad array of business segments, including financial services, information technology, wireless communications, cable TV, manufacturing and distribution. Mr. Barker is well traveled and has international business experience in twenty-four countries around the world. Mr. Barker earned his Bachelor of Science degree at West Point, where he was on the honor roll and lettered in intercollegiate football. He served for five years in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany, before returning to the United States to earn his MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. In 1980, he began his 27-year career, the first leg in the corporate Fortune 200 arena at Aetna Life & Casualty, IBM, and GE Capital. At Aetna, Mr. Barker was Senior Analyst and Vice President of an Aetna operating technology division. He later helped found and became the Chief Marketing Officer of SBS Real Com, an early alternative telecom company with nationwide operations that he helped to transition to become a part of IBM. In 1986, he joined GE Capital in their structured finance investment subsidiary. While Executive Vice President, Mr. Barker led multi-million dollar funding of several private equity acquisitions, including a London-based credit card insurance company that became the multi-billion dollar insurance business of GE Capital. He also led GE Capital’s $400 million participation in the private equity acquisition of Continental Airlines, and later restructured a troubled portfolio that reduced potential losses to GE by 96%. As President of GE Com, he grew a telecommunications business to a $1 billion investment and supervised as a board member WorldTel, GE Capital’s telecom company affiliated with the International Telecommunications Union. For the next seven years until 2004, Mr. Barker worked in the private equity area leading high-level business development, restructuring, financing and revenue growth. He was co-founder of Callahan Associates, a multi-billion dollar international private equity firm that funded cable TV, wireless and Internet technology, and had as its investment partners Blackstone, Bank of America, Caisse de Depot, InvestCorp, GE Capital and others. He later co-founded and was Managing Director of Springwell Capital Partners, a CT-based communications and information technology private equity advisory services company, after which Mr. Barker operated Jean Elton Studio & Gallery, a Westport, CT-based, designer, manufacturer and distributor of ceramic dinnerware and home décor accessories. Most recently, Mr. Barker purchased The Alternative Board Franchise (www.tabboards.com) on the eastside midtown Manhattan and expects to launch this business in Autumn 2007. Mr. Barker is active on corporate and non profit boards, serving on the Audit Committee and as lead director on a special investigatory committee for Clarent Corporation’s board, and as a director of Counsel Springwell Communications, LLC, and WorldTel, Ltd. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Seek Partners Int’l, a ministry serving pastors and educators of India, and Black Rock Congregational Church in Fairfield, CT, where he lives with his wife, Lois. |