CEO of the Year 2023 Finalist: John Barry

Colorado is full of devoted entrepreneurs, business leaders and tech-savvy visionaries who are constantly taking the business world to new heights. It’s no secret that here, at ColoradoBiz, we love the Colorado business community. That’s why, every year, we spotlight the most impressive CEOs throughout our Centennial state and give credit where credit is due — to the forward-thinking minds constantly chasing the next great idea and upholding their business practices to the most purposeful ideals. We’re proud to introduce our finalists for CoBiz’s prestigious 2022 CEO of the Year award.

John Barry

President and CEO

Wings Over the Rockies

Denver, Colorado

Website: www.wingsmuseum.org

Managing, inspiring and leading large groups of people during challenging times is John Barry’s superpower. That made him the perfect person for the job when he took over as president and CEO of Wings Over the Rockies in January 2017 and was tasked with opening a second site at Centennial Airport, now known as Exploration of Flight (EOF). 

Barry, a retired U.S. Air Force major general with a long list of career accomplishments, quickly assembled a team from the Wings board and staff that worked to negotiate a zero percent loan from the Walton Family Foundation for $3.3 million that allowed the first building to be completed within 18 months. This second Wings site also houses a charter middle school for more than 200 students that opened in 2020. In the works and slated to open in 2024 are a Food Hall and additional hangar. 

Other notable accomplishments of the past year under Barry’s watch include: welcoming more than 135,000 visitors representing 50 states and 31 countries to Wings; continuing the “Behind the Wings” video series on PBS, with airings in 100 markets and in 39 states and more than 9 million YouTube views; completing and updating two new Wings exhibits; developing new and innovative educational pathways that are at the core of Wings’ mission to help prepare and inspire Colorado’s youth for careers in aerospace; facilitating students building 80 percent of Wings’ RV–12iS aircraft with support and help from Wings staff and volunteers (Barry flew all the test flights for certification); awarding 22 Colorado students the James C. Ray Foundation Flight Training Scholarships in 2023, bringing the total to more  than 125 flight training scholarships worth more than $1 million since 2019. 

Barry, who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 30 years before retiring in 2004. He was a fighter pilot, logging 270 hours of combat time. He served as president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver (BGCMD) from 2014 to 2016 and was superintendent of Aurora Public Schools for seven years, from 2006 to 2013.  

Mike Taylor is the editor of ColoradoBiz.