Overseeing the management of long-term relationships within her company, Teresa M. Barber has served as director of marketing and strategic communications with IMS ExpertServices since 2018. In this role, she works with big law firms and outside counsel for Fortune 100 and 500 companies that engage in or are handling commercial disputes, litigation or are working on patents matters protecting IP. They will identify the best possible potential expert witness ensure they are conflict free, that they have the credentials needed and provide those options to attorneys, litigators or inside counsel, later managing them throughout the process. Ms. Barber also takes care a lot of the standard marketing functions, supporting advertising, promotions, public relations, graphic design and branding.
Prior to this role, Ms. Barber began her career as the manager of Mojo’s in 1998, remaining in this position for four years before becoming a staff assistant for the Bureau of Local Retirement Systems of the Florida Department of Management Services for one year. She was then a broadcast announcer and continuity writer for WVFS Tallahassee 89.7FM from 2004 to 2006 and CEO, director and research associate in economic development with Fairfield Index Inc. from 2007 to 2014. Following this, she consulted and was a strategic thinker for Thinkspot, Inc., from 2014 to 2017 while also joining her current company as an expert advocate from 2016 to 2018. In addition to this tenure, Ms. Barber worked on the NASA Social, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) Mission (ALUMNUS) in 2013. Since 2014, she has also been the founder and CEO of Neon Coffee and principal and founder of Five Point, LLC.
To prepare for her illustrious career, Ms. Barber pursued a formal education at Thomas Edison State University in Trenton, New Jersey, earning a Bachelor of Arts in social sciences. She then matriculated at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she attained a Master of Business Administration in innovation. Ms. Barber went on to receive two specialization certificates; the first, in conflict management, was obtained from the University of California Irvine in 2014 and the second, in executive data science, was obtained from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 2016.
Catering to numerous civic endeavors, Ms. Barber served on the board of New Leaf Market from 2004 to 2005 and the marketing/PR committee of the Rome/Floyd County Habitat for Humanity from 2009 to 2010. Around this time, she was a team member and Fairfield Index’s manager in regional strategies and transformation for the Florida Earth Foundation from 2009 to 2011, and executive committee member for the Florida Economic Development Council and YP executive committee member for Virtual from 2010 to 2011. A judge and regional education working group member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 2011 to 2013, Ms. Barber additionally served as communications chair for the Pensacola JULEP in 2013 and chairman of the board of STEM Story from 2015 to 2016.
Moreover, Ms. Barber was the director of strategy and engagement of STEMFlorida from 2014 to 2017. STEMFlorida is the first statewide nonprofit, led by business to advance STEM. From its establishment, there was some support from the Governor’s Office and state agencies. Ms. Barber developed the strategic plan with some of the board members and business volunteers, and they earned recognition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a best practice for business and education collaboration. STEM was always a big passion of hers.
In recognition of her volunteer work, the Theatre Community Institute bestowed Ms. Barber with an honorary membership for her help in their strategic planning endeavors. She has further maintained involvement with myriad related organizations in her field including the Institute of Management Accountants, the International Association of Business Communicators, the International Economic Development Council and the Institute for Women in Politics of Northwest Florida. A prolific writer, Ms. Barber has also contributed numerous articles to professional journals between 2009 and 2016.