Introduction
Barbara Barrett is an American businesswoman and diplomat. Barrett is chairman of the Aerospace Corporationand a member of the boards of California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, RAND Corporation, Smithsonian Institution, Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans and Lasker Foundation. She and her husband Craig own Triple Creek Ranch, A Montana Hideaway, ranked #1 Hotel in the World by Travel + Leisure magazine in 2014 and Business Insider magazine in 2015.
In 2012 Barrett was interim president of Thunderbird School of Global Management, now a unit of the Arizona State University Knowledge Enterprise. In 2008 and 2009, Barrett was U.S. Ambassador to Finland. Barrett was a senior advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, a fellow teaching leadership at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, CEO of the American Management Association, deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and vice chairman of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board. She also served on the boards of Space Foundation, Milton Hershey School and Hershey Trust Company, Mayo Clinic, Exponent Corporation, Raytheon and Piper Aircraft. Barrett was founding chairman of Valley Bank of Arizona, partner in a large Phoenix law firm and, before she was 30, an executive of two global Fortune 500 companies.
Barrett was president of the International Women's Forum. As a member of the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council, she founded Project Artemis, a program to train and mentor Afghan women entrepreneurs at Thunderbird. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a participant with Global Leadership Foundation, Club of Madrid and World Economic Forum. She served as chairman for the State Department's Women's Economic Empowerment Working Group, U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy and U.S. Secretary of Commerce's Export Conference.
In her community, Barrett was chairman of the Arizona District Export Council, World Affairs Council and Economic Club of Phoenix. In 1994, she was the first female Republican candidate for Governor of Arizona.
Barrett earned her bachelor's, master's and law degrees at Arizona State University. Honorary doctorates have been conferred by ASU, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Thunderbird, University of South Carolina, Pepperdine University and Finlandia University. Barrett, the Honors College at ASU was named for Barrett and her husband, Craig, in 2000.
An instrument-rated pilot, Barrett was the first civilian woman to land in an F/A-18 Hornet on an aircraft carrier. She climbed Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro in August 2007 and bicycled 900 kilometers throughout Finland while Ambassador. She has trained as an astronaut, and was the backup spaceflight participant for the Soyuz TMA-16 flight to the International Space Station.
Barrett has been recognized with the Administrators Award for Distinguished Service by the FAA, Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans, Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship and Sandra Day O’Connor Board Excellence Award. In 2014, Barrett was inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame and received the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Presidential Medal from President Laurie Leshin.
Family
Barbara Barrett is married to Craig Barrett, retired chairman and CEO of Intel.