Mr. Barber is a retired attorney and development professional with extensive experience in the management of non-profit and fundraising organizations, and in the planning and implementation of fundraising campaigns. He currently serves as a board member or advisor for several non-profit organizations.
Since 2017, Mr. Barber has served as a member of the Board of Regents of Samuel Merritt University. He is also currently a member of the Advisory Board for the Division of Earth and Life Science of the National Academy of Sciences. From 2017 to 2020 he served as Treasurer of the Episcopal Diocese of California. He is currently a Commissioner of the City of Orinda Supplemental Sales Tax Oversight Commission. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Barber served as Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer of Children’s Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, CA (now part of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital). After retiring in December 2012, he served as advisor to the CEO on the UCSF affiliated hospital where he raised over $120 million, almost half of which was unrestricted. He also planned and launched the quiet phase of a $160 million capital campaign for new facilities and worked closely with hospital auxiliaries and other outside volunteer fundraising organizations to encourage private support for the hospital, primarily through special events, to help meet unreimbursed costs of clinical care and to support research.
Previously, Mr. Barber served as Assistant Vice President for Institutional Advancement at the UC Office of the President, retiring in 2006 with the emeritus title. There he worked extensively with all UC campuses, their foundations and foundation trustees and campus units such as schools, colleges, hospitals and clinical services, museums, libraries, etc. He took a leading role in the establishment of the UC Merced Foundation, the UC Civil Association (Mexico) and the UC Trust (UK). He oversaw the preparation of annual fundraising reports, analysis and evaluation for the Board of Regents and worked closely with the offices of the Treasurer and General Counsel in connection with fundraising, endowment administration and other philanthropy-related matters.
Mr. Barber also served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development at the UC Berkeley campus, where he was responsible for all fundraising staff at UC Berkeley Foundation during the final phase of the “Keeping the Promise” capital campaign in addition to serving as in-house legal counsel to UC Berkeley Foundation. Before this, he served Assistant Chancellor at UCSF where he established the UCSF Foundation (over $200 million net assets), recruited its initial board of trustees, drafted its operating policies, and hired most of its initial fundraisers and alumni association staff. He also served as in-house legal counsel to the UCSF Foundation.
Mr. Barber’s other significant work includes being an Associate at the San Francisco law firm of Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison. In the past, he has served on numerous non-profit governing boards, including the international board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the University of California Trust (UK), the Anglo-California Foundation, the Los Alamos National Lab Foundation, the California Alumni Association, UCB International House Board and several other University of California and community organizations. Currently, Mr. Barber serves as an elected Director of the Moraga-Orinda Fire District, Chair of the Friends of the Bancroft Library and sits on the advisory boards for the UC Berkeley Library, the Anglo-American Studies Program and the Canadian Studies Program at UC Berkeley. He is a member of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Diocese of California and its finance and investment committees. In addition, he is a member of the Vestry of St. Stephen’s Church in Orinda and its finance and investment committees and have been a Visiting Scholar at the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education since 2013.
Mr. Barber received a BA in history from the University of California, Berkeley and a JD from the UC Berkeley School of Law. He is a fourth generation Californian, has two grown children, and lives in Orinda, California with his wife. His interests include history, public affairs, art, architecture and performing arts.
