John Barry

Training Director

Email: j.barry@berwicksconsultants.com

John is a freelance management and teamwork consultant. He began his career in the Royal Marines and saw active service in the Borneo jungles and later went on to command the small group that developed techniques for and trained the Commando Brigade in mountain and arctic warfare. He had six winters in North Norway. He also served as a principal staff officer at the Royal Marines Special Forces base at Poole. After this he was the Director of the National Mountaineering School at Plas y Brenin in North Wales for seven years.

Since then he has set up a Rope Access company that marries mountaineering skills to engineering and construction techniques on tall buildings and has had contracts in areas as diverse as Nigeria, Miami and Hong Kong. He has also worked for a small company that specialises in team building and personal development in major industries. He writes extensively - to date seven books have been published - and has produced five television specials for the main TV channels. He is also a mountain guide and has gained an international reputation as a mountaineer. Amongst his many mountain adventures in the Himalayas and elsewhere, he led the expedition that put Rebecca Stephens on the top of Everest (the first British lady), and has since climbed Everest himself. All this has given him a unique personal experience of real life crises and there have been many occasions when the end of his life has seemed imminent. He has worked extensively with industrial Emergency Planning Groups over the last three years. He is a sought after lecturer and after dinner speaker.

Training experience:

• Chief Trainer for RM Junior NCOs 1970-73
• Chief Instructor and Commander of Mountain Leaders Wing 1973-76
• Director Sports Council outdoor centre 1983-90
• Extensive experience with motivation training over many years
• Training Director with Berwicks 1999-present.