Award-winning businesswoman
Born in Boston, USA in 1960, Barbara was educated at Princeton where she won a Masters Degree in International Relations, although she and her English investment banker husband have spent most of their adult lives in London.
In 1986, the Coopers and Lybrand management consultant was posted to their London office but it wasn’t long before she joined British Airways. By 1997 she was an established household name when she was asked her to set up the new low-cost BA offshoot Go.
GO’s success was rapid and was soon turning in profits far earlier than hoped. Following the £110m management buyout in 2001, she remained at the helm and was crowned the Veuve Cliquot Businesswoman of the Year in 2002. When budget airline rivals easyJet bought the company for £374 million, Barbara reluctantly handed over the reins.
Since then she’s had several interesting projects on the ‘go’ including buying her local pub in Barnes, London and transforming it into a modern eatery and writing a book about her experiences at Go. She led the early stages of London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics before moving aside for Olympic hero Lord Coe in the closing phases.
Her limited free time is devoted to horses as a passionate three-day eventer. Her illuminating speeches cover such subjects as leadership and strategic planning.