Katrina Barry is an experienced executive leader she specialises in strategy, digital transformation and scaling for iconic brands.
Most recently, Katrina was the CEO of me&u, a global leader in order and pay technology for hospitality with offices across the UK, the US and Oceania. Taking over from the founder as me&u’s first professional CEO and Chairman, she led 150 people on an extraordinary journey. In 2 years, she raised $33m of capital (in the middle of the tech-wreck), matured the business, refined strategy, recruited a world-class leadership team, reduced cash burn by 75%, doubled the time to value (TTV) and net revenue, and merged the business with its key competitor to create an undisputed world leader.
Before that, Katrina was the Managing Director of Trafalgar Tours and Contiki Holidays for 8 years, overseeing all Australasian businesses, including all regional operations.
Before her jet-setting days in travel, Katrina was with BT Financial leading various direct businesses, and digital, marketing and customer experience across multiple brands. She also spent 7 years with the Virgin Group where she led strategy at Virgin Money, investment management at Virgin’s Private Equity arm, and was one of the founders of Virgin Active gyms in Australasia. Katrina started her career as a Lawyer and then as a management consultant at McKinsey and Company.
Katrina holds Commerce and Law degrees from the University of Auckland, and an Executive AMP from Wharton.
She is a member of the Institute of Company Directors. She has over 15 years experience as a Non-Executive Director, currently serving on the Boards of PetSure Australia and Webjet Limited.
Talking Points
Millennials…can they be mastered?
Entitled, self-absorbed or simply misunderstood? Contiki Holidays Managing Director Katrina Barry shares her insights from leading 120 Millennials (Generation Y) over four years through a business transformation. She shares her insights on how to create environments that allow Millennials to thrive and challenges stereotypes of working attitudes. In this keynote, Katrina shares her secrets for getting enthusiasm, effort and performance from this notoriously challenging workforce segment.Millennials…can they be mastered?
WHAT TO EXPECT: Belly laughs, undercover boss stories, real consumer insights, paradigm shifts and powerful reflection exercises to challenge stereotypes.
VALUE PROPOSITION: Data briefing on the groundbreaking “Are Millennial’s f**cked series” http://bit.ly/2FVJ5rJ with MTV including video content and 2M plus likes Facebook campaigns
Marketing to Gen Z
The Contiki story of how a 55-year-old brand remains world famous and relevant to every new generation is a master class in modern marketing. Katrina Barry explains the “magic fairy dust” that Contiki has used to be able to connect with its Gen Y, Z and Millennials. Katrina will detail how the Contiki brand has sold to the generations that “don’t want to be sold to”. Marketing to Gen Z
WHAT TO EXPECT: Detailed case studies, trends statistics on marketing to, and the difference between, Gen Z and Gen Y; content-led marketing insights; what brands need to know about these emerging generations; compelling social media content analysis
VALUE PROPOSITION: Learn about campaigns that spread like wildfire; why the direct sales approach does not work for these consumers
What gets your brand there doesn’t keep you there - Millennial brand evolution with insight
Lessons from Virgin and Contiki on how to stay ahead of the game. Katrina Barry details how iconic brands remain relevant decade after decade. She discusses her theory ‘What gets your brand there doesn’t keep you there’ and explains her strategies for keeping a brand fresh, relevant and evolving.What gets your brand there doesn’t keep you there - Millennial brand evolution with insight
WHAT TO EXPECT: Breakdown of how ‘challenger’ brands like Virgin work; how the Contiki brand has evolved through its unique content marketing approach
VALUE PROPOSITION: Insights on Virgin and Contiki’s branding identity, philosophy and obsession with customer experiences.
Women in Leadership: starfish, gremlins and ignoring advice
Katrina Barry is a Managing Director who has never lost her down-to-earth, honest approach to leadership. She’s worked and lived in NZ, the UK, South Africa, Ecuador and Australia. She’s been a lawyer, a McKinsey management consultant, a head of strategy at Virgin, run digital and marketing division in a big bank, worked in recruitment, coal mining, investment banking and private equity, started and sold a gym chain, and even worked for the United Nations Development Program. In this keynote, she follows her career trajectory from high school drop out to Managing Director for a multinational superbrand and explains her unusual recipe for success.Women in Leadership: starfish, gremlins and ignoring advice
WHAT TO EXPECT: The business case for female participation, representation and leadership. Reflection exercises on what needs to be done for championing women in leadership. Stats on, and case for closing, the gender gap as required.
VALUE PROPOSITION: Katrina’s unique recipe for personal success is outlined that involves taming gremlins and ignoring the advice!
The 10 things I learnt from working for Richard Branson
Across the seven years Katrina Barry worked for the Virgin Group, she did a lot more than building businesses for him - including having organise to have one of Richard Branson’s yachts cleaned and arranging, and even being in, headline grabbing press stunts. Katrina was a co-founder of the start-ups Virgin Money and Virgin Active that grew to 300 staff and looked after numerous other interests for billionaire Richard Branson in Australia. In her candid keynote, Katrina shares 10 lessons from one of the most powerful brands in the world that are relevant for every business.The 10 things I learnt from working for Richard Branson
WHAT TO EXPECT: How to challenge the ‘rules’ of business; learning in the deep end; how to seize opportunities and secrets of the Virgin HR strategy.
VALUE PROPOSITION: Case studies, learn about the mindset require to build billion-dollar businesses in different sectors; Virgin Group team-building, staff retention and delegation tactics.
A good strategy is hard to find
Throughout Katrina Barry’s career, she has discovered that businesses with a simple, clear and effective strategy and plan are as hard to find as a good man in Sydney. She outlines her tried and tested methods for developing and implementing business strategies developed from her experience at the world’s leading Management Consulting firm McKinsey & Co.A good strategy is hard to find
WHAT TO EXPECT: A step-by-step guide to how Katrina works with her teams annually to develop 12-month strategic plans; mapping annual plans against longer-term strategic plans.
VALUE PROPOSITION: Details of processes to ensure that businesses have absolute clarity and all levels of the organsisation around strategic planning; ensuring plans remain relevant and set up for success.
You can learn everything you need to know for your career from Farming
Katrina Barry is a senior executive who has travelled all over the world for some of the biggest brand and businesses. In this keynote she will explain why, at the end of the day, she is still just a farm girl. Katrina claims that one of her greatest mentors is her father, a farmer who has worked the land for 45 years and has never earned more than $17 an hour.You can learn everything you need to know for your career from Farming
WHAT TO EXPECT: In-depth lessons and how they apply to business environments.
VALUE PROPOSITION: Fundamentals of farming and their application to growing businesses, teams and yourself. In particular HR, investment and work/life balance.
Gen Z: what to know about the next wave of consumers and staff
Whilst most brands are still focused on mastering millennials, those in the know are starting to think consumers and staff under the age of 23… - call them Gen Z, the iGen, Zellinials or MEME Gen, 20-somethings born in the mid-1990s to the early-2000s have come to the fore over the past 12 months as brands have shifted their focus from “Millennial first” to their younger generational peers. Whilst there are similarities to their millennial mates, they are a very different generation. Businesses and leaders need to know what they think, feel and care about , their unique language and how to engage with this soon to be huge economic force in the right way.
Gen Z: what to know about the next wave of consumers and staff
Innovation, customer service brilliance and marketing cut-through; what you can learn from irreverent brands like Virgin and Contiki
In this presentation Katrina shares stories and insights from 14 years working for two iconic, innovative and irreverent brands.
Innovation, customer service brilliance and marketing cut-through; what you can learn from irreverent brands like Virgin and Contiki
Katrina's ability to connect with the audience is unparalleled, she managed to keep everyone engaged throughout the session with great, interactive content. We're still hearing a lot of posi ... keep reading Domain Group
Katrina Barry is a pleasure to work with and was a great addition to the line-up of keynote speakers for our 2018 Annual Conference. Katrina’s content provided delegates with simple yet strategically important, practical ways to ensure that your brand can remain relevant long into the future by simply asking the ‘why?’
We had 18 speakers at our last two events and Katrina was rated the top presenter of the day at both the events. I would highly recommend Katrina to any company who is looking for a professional, engaging speaker who can deliver a powerful message and can add the right amount of humour in her delivery. Her teachings have continued to have a dramatic ripple effect throughout the industry following the last event.
Katrina spoke at our Millennial 20/20 Australia Summit, and her session titled, ‘What gets your brand there doesn’t keep you there - Millennial brand evolution with insight’, was a highlight. Katrina gave a presentation full of insight using engaging examples of the work done at Contiki to reach a rapidly changing market. As a speaker, Katrina was dynamic, knowledgeable, fun, and most importantly, clearly passionate about the presentation content and her work. It was obvious that Katrina knew the content well and was excited to share it with our audience. She communicated her enthusiasm so effectively that a delegate made the point to find me after the session to tell me she felt it was one of the best presentations she’d seen. Additionally, when I needed a panellist at the last minute for a session on “The Future of Work”, Katrina was happy to step-up and assist. With minimal time to prepare, she spoke knowledgeably on the topic, was funny, and was an excellent addition to the session. I would highly recommend Katrina as a speaker.
Katrina was an absolute pleasure to work with for our recent Millennials Marketing Conference. From our initial planning conversations all the way through to the execution of her talk, she was a total professional. The content of the talk was an excellent standard. Katrina was also rated as one of our most engaging speakers in our feedback survey post event.
The ever-luminescent Katrina Barry (MD Contiki) took care of the business side of the evening, launching Contiki’s new initiatives on stage with her trademark blend of sass and sharp humour that had the festival-esque crowd yelling and screaming in delight.
Katrina was an excellent addition to our annual business conference. Her personal business insights and the ones drawn from her years working Virgin were thought provoking and engaging. I would highly recommend her.
Katrina Barry was amazing and such a great choice as the guest speaker for the evening.
