Jack Barker
Verified Expert in Management Consulting
Management Consulting Expert
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
Education Highlights
Case Studies
Data Center Investment Fund
Worldwide Subsea Power Company
The DC Capital Group
Industry Expertise
- Custom Software & IT Services
- Finance
- Banking
- Venture Capital & Private Equity
- Insurance
- Manufacturing
- Electronics
- Food & Beverage
Other Expertise
- Brazil
- Business Strategy
- CFO
- Corporate Restructuring
- Project Finance
Work Experience
President | Vice Chairman
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.
Founder | Managing Director
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.
Founder | Managing Director
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.
Principal
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.
CFO
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.
COO
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.
Partner
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.
Manufacturing Engineer
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%.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in General Management and Finance
Harvard Business School - Boston, MA, USA
Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Material Science
Duke University - Durham, NC, USA
Skills
Finance
CFO, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Corporate Finance, Equipment Finance, Comparable Company Analysis, Investment Memoranda, Private Equity, Capital Budgeting, Fundraising, Budgeting, Profitability Analysis, Forecasting, Specialty Finance, Project Finance, Pricing, Debtor & Creditor Management, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Commercial Finance, Debt Restructuring, Capital Raising, Capital Structuring, Profit & Loss (P&L), Valuation Modeling, Financial Modeling, International Taxation
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook
Industry Expertise
Technology, Telecommunications, Banking & Finance, Real Estate, Retail & Wholesale, Consumer Finance, Consumer Products, Insurance, Food & Beverage, Venture Capital, Financial Services, Paper & Packaging, Pensions, Electronics, Logistics
Geographic Expertise
United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Switzerland, Brazil, Ecuador, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Mexico, Canada, France, Chile, Argentina, Luxembourg
Data & Analysis Software
Intuit QuickBooks, Microsoft Access
Other
Cash Flow Management, Project Delivery, Commercial Proposals, Business Proposals, Projects, Business Strategy, Corporate Restructuring, Excel Modeling, Restructuring, Business Ideas, Business Research, Business Planning, Shareholder Return, Corporate Development, Company Research, Company Analysis, Product Strategy, Organization, Operations Management, Productivity Improvement, Data Centers, Business Models, Change Management, Management Consulting, COO, Cash Flow Analysis, Proposals, P&L Management, Strategic Planning & Execution, Management, Pro Forma Analysis, Vendor Management, Creative Problem Solving, Finance, Fractional CFO, Growth Strategy, Interim CFO, Finance Director, Managerial Finance, Virtual CFO, Search, Small Business Consultants, Business Consulting, Business Modeling, Business Plan Consulting, Private Equity Consultant, Family Office, Family Office Management, Part-time CFO, Fundraising Consultant, Growth Strategy Consultants, Interim Finance Director, Operations, Manufacturing Productivity Improvement, Bankruptcy & Insolvency, Debt Financing, Corporate Governance, Business Loans, Product Marketing, Business Development, Investing, Contract Negotiation, Treasury, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Sales Forecasting, Product Development, Six Sigma, Manufacturing, Market Research & Analysis, CAPEX, Procurement, Argus Enterprise, Claims Processing
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring