Marie-Claire Barker, the Chief Talent Officer, Global, leads the global talent efforts for MEC, a founding partner of GroupM, a WPP company. She started her career in the UK in sales and marketing with Kimberly-Clark, and then Britvic soft drinks, where she had her first exposure to training and development, with the responsibility of training the nationwide sales team. This is when her passion for finding, growing and engaging great people started.

Her move to Human Resources came in 1995 when she joined Allied Domecq Spirits and Wine, where she spent five years and held roles in International Leadership and Management Development, Organizational Development, and finally in Corporate HR based in Canada.

Prior to MEC, Marie-Claire served as Global Chief Talent Officer for Ogilvy & Mather advertising, where she was responsible for all aspects of the company's human resources capabilities including recruiting, learning and development, succession planning, and partnering with the executive team to drive and evolve the company's unique culture

Her time with Ogilvy expanded her international experience, and she was responsible for developing senior leaders, managing for succession and ensuring the organization is prepared for changes in talent needs as its business challenges constantly evolve.  All this while driving the Talent Management function to be as creative as the rest of the organization.

She is a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Human Resources Management and Services from Kingston University.