Jack Barker, Finance Expert in Washington, United States
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Jack Barker

Verified Expert  in Finance

Management Consulting Expert

Location
Washington, United States
Toptal Member Since
April 20, 2017

A former McKinsey Partner and Carlyle Group Principal with 30 years of international experience, Jack has served as the president, CFO, and COO of two Carlyle companies and four others. He is a finance, strategy, and operations expert with deep experience in telecom, financial services, data centers, and manufacturing. Jack enjoys freelancing because it allows him to work on a wide variety of issues for companies of all sizes and many industries.

Career Highlights

President | Vice Chairman
SmartSenseCom, Inc.
Principal
The Carlyle Group
Partner
McKinsey & Co.

Education Highlights

Case Studies

Work Experience

President | Vice Chairman

2011 - PRESENT
SmartSenseCom, Inc.
  • Raised over $4 million of investment capital.
  • Led all financial planning, analysis, accounting, and tax activity for the company.
  • Won significant development contracts with Oak Ridge and Savannah River National Laboratories and Bonneville Power Administration.
Focus areas: Capital Raising, Budgeting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Business Development, Profit & Loss (P&L)

Founder | Managing Director

2009 - PRESENT
The DC Capital Group
  • Developed a financial model, identified financing, and negotiated final terms for €90 million off-shore construction vessel.
  • Advised a client on the present value of legacy pension costs and developed plans to mitigate the impact on overall company value.
  • Developed a business model for a spin-out of an off-shore wind business; found buyers and negotiated sale.
  • Created a valuation model, located buyers, and negotiated terms for the overall business divestiture by the family office.
Focus areas: Corporate Finance, Capital Raising, Pensions, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Project Finance

Founder | Managing Director

2007 - 2009
Matapeake Partners
  • Raised $2.3 million from institutional investors.
  • Controlled three data center assets as seed portfolio for European Data Center investment fund.
  • Constructed detailed financial models for multiple data center acquisitions and brownfield developments.
  • Served as operating partner for European data center; including all the capital investment planning and debt financing.
  • Marketed a data center private equity fund extensively to global institutions.
Focus areas: Capital Raising, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Financial Modeling, Data Centers

Principal

2001 - 2007
The Carlyle Group
  • Spearheaded the development and deal flow for a $1 billion global financial services investment fund.
  • Led the financial restructuring of a $1.2 billion public environmental services company.
  • Started a wireless telecommunications company in Hawaii.
  • Wrote detailed investment committee proposals—including market assessments, cash flow models, and capital structure options.
Focus areas: Cash Flow Management, Valuation Modeling, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Debt Restructuring, Investing, Financial Services

CFO

2001 - 2001
Digiplex, Inc.
  • Restructured a €110 million debt facility with a consortium of seven international banks.
  • Facilitated follow-on equity investments from private US shareholders through a legal web of ten different Western European countries and more than ten global subsidiaries.
  • Avoided €55 million of contracted equipment costs made redundant by industry downturn.
  • Reduced the SG&A by 50% by consolidating offices, divesting assets, and replacing the operating management.
  • Created all the financial plans and analysis required to support the shareholders, bank negotiations, and contract negotiations.
Focus areas: Debt Restructuring, Sales Forecasting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Treasury, Contract Negotiation

COO

2000 - 2000
OpenWebs, Inc.
  • Raised over $6 million in seed financing.
  • Negotiated a $5-million contract with a major global tire supplier.
  • Budgeted and managed the cash flow for company continuity and legal compliance after 2,000 market crash.
  • Led a team of 50 software engineers and support personnel.
Focus areas: Capital Raising, Product Development, Cash Flow Management, Debtor & Creditor Management

Partner

1988 - 2000
McKinsey & Co.
  • Led the strategy, performance improvement, and regulatory projects for multinational companies and governments throughout the world.
  • Served as an economic advisor to the Brazilian Minister of Telecommunications for the re-regulation and privatization of Telebras. Developed pricing and investment models that led to the regulatory framework, which tripled Brazilian teledensity in less than five years.
  • Built a comprehensive interactive pricing model for three competing grades of fiber-based packaging as a key input for paper mill investment decisions.
  • Served as an advisor to Ecuador's Minister of Finance during the 1999 currency crisis. Built banking industry models that demonstrated system-wide insolvency and the impending liquidity crisis.
Focus areas: Paper & Packaging, Retail & Wholesale, Consumer Products, Telecommunications, Financial Services

Manufacturing Engineer

1984 - 1986
Motorola
  • Conceived and executed a statistical product design approach that reduced yield loss by 80%.
  • Isolated a failure mechanism in a critical component—leading to a redesign that reduced component cost by more than 50%.
Focus areas: Manufacturing, Electronics, Manufacturing Productivity Improvement, Six Sigma
1986 - 1988

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in General Management and Finance

Harvard Business School - Boston, MA, USA

1980 - 1984

Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Material Science

Duke University - Durham, NC, USA

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