Barry Parkin is chief procurement and sustainability officer at Mars, where he has worked for more than 30 years. Here, he is responsible for developing and driving the company’s sustainability programmes across its value chain from farmers through to consumers, leading the company’s future business success and its role as a corporate citizen. 

In this position, Barry has worked with business leadership and operational teams to develop and articulate Mars’ corporate commitments and strategies. This work resulted in the launch of Mars’ Sustainable in a Generation Plan in September 2017, laying out the path for Mars to become a truly sustainable business.

Barry is one of the key corporate spokespeople on sustainability. He and his team are responsible for building strong and collaborative partnerships with Mars’ suppliers, governments, development agencies, NGOs and peer companies on a pre-competitive basis to advance sustainable development. He is also Chairman of the World Cocoa Foundation.  In this position, he leads the industry’s collaborative efforts to advance sustainable cocoa. In September 2017, Barry took on leadership of the procurement function for Mars, where he leads the transformation and governance of the function.

During his 33-year career at Mars, Barry has worked in a diverse set of roles across sustainability, procurement, engineering, business development, supply chain and human resources. He holds an engineering science degree from Cambridge University and is a Chartered Engineer (IMechE).

Barry is from the UK and currently lives in the US with his wife and children.