Barry Parkin

Barry Parkin is chief sustainability officer at Mars, Incorporated, the leading global food business. He is responsible for shaping the company’s approach to sustainability, its key targets, policies and strategies and ensuring that they are successfully deployed across the global business. As chief sustainability officer, Barry is at the forefront of Mars’ efforts in realizing its ambitious goal to become Sustainable in a Generation. Under this commitment, the company aims to eliminate fossil fuel energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, minimize its impact on water quality and availability, and mitigate the impact of its waste across its operations by 2040. Equally central to his role is Barry’s collaborative work with all Mars business divisions to develop the company’s corporate sourcing strategy, which seeks to create sustainable global supply networks for the company’s key raw materials including: cocoa, palm oil, peanuts, dairy, coconut, and sugar. Originally trained as an engineer, Barry has worked in a diverse set of roles during his 28 year career at Mars, across Commercial, Engineering, Business Development, Supply Chain, HR and Sourcing. Prior to his appointment as chief sustainability officer, Barry oversaw sourcing and sustainability for Mars’ chocolate business, playing a pivotal role in establishing the company as an industry leader in the field of cocoa sustainability.