Barry Mitchell

Academic Life

Barry attended the University of Durham as a member of Van Mildert College from 1982 to 1985 and graduated with a B.Sc. in Physics. He was active in college social life, spending two years on the Bar Committee as the Beer Rep, and played (just once or twice) for the college rugby team. While at Durham, Barry was an RAF Reservist as a member of the Northumbrian Universities Air Squadron (NUAS), and completed basic flying training out of RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire. Barry’s final act at Durham was to break his right leg in two places while playing “British Bulldog,” which resulted in him graduating on crutches. The Chancellor of the university at that time, Dame Margot Fontaine, was gracious enough to come down off the stage to hand him his scroll rather than make him climb the steps.

Professional Life

Upon graduating, Barry spent two years with British Aerospace as a bench engineer, a year as a Recruitment Consultant and two years as a graduate recruiter for an IT Services company before switching into a career in Information Technology. He trained as a mainframe programmer and spent 7 years with Electronic Data Systems in the UK before moving to the US in 1996 where he joined IBM in 1997. Having spent almost 29 years with IBM in various technology and business consulting roles, Barry is now a Partner in IBM Consulting and part of a global large deal sales team. In recent years, Barry has worked with various Fortune 500 clients helping them implement automation and AI to transform enterprise processes. In his IBM career, Barry has lived and worked in the US, had roles in Europe, and took a two-year assignment in Singapore – IBM really does stand for “I’ve Been Moved”.

Personal Life

Barry was born and grew up in Northampton, England. He moved to Atlanta with his British wife, Sarah, and their first child, Thomas, in 1996 with a plan to be there for 3-4 years before returning to the UK. Of course, plans change, and after nearly 30 years and two more children, the US is now home. Barry and Sarah became US Citizens in 2008 and now have three grown-up children, Thomas, Andrew and Jessica, all making their way in the world. Sarah is self-employed as a Voice Artist, Actor, Director and Producer and is currently developing a TV sit-com. Barry enjoys playing tennis, reading, cooking and riding his motorcycle in the north Georgia mountains.