Richard Barrett Email and Phone Number

Following an extensive procurement exercise the Irish government awarded NBI a contract to bring gigabit connectivity to all premises in Ireland that are not served by established telecommunications operators. NBI began to mobilise for delivery of the program in 2020. My responsibilities cover several key areas: • Implement and support the governance framework to support the NBI team in delivering the National Broadband Program to meet its contractual obligations and the policy objectives of the Irish government.• Develop and sustain strong relationships to establish and maintain alignment with stakeholders on a consistent vision of success. Promoted a voice of the client approach within the organisation to align on agreed annual operating plans.• Facilitate decision-making with the Senior Management Team so decisions consider the government’s policy objectives, NBI’s contractual obligations, and the objective to establish a sustainable business.• Coordinated the agreement of plans to secure project health following COVID and other business disruptions.• Overseeing the implementation of contract governance systems to demonstrate contractual compliance and active risk management to ensure program success.• Represent NBI in key discussions and negotiations with the government’s contact team.• Advising on key issues including stakeholder strategy, regulation, program delivery, negotiations, and contract delivery – offering opinions and challenges when appropriate.• Overseeing the engagement with the government representatives, ensuring openness, transparency, and accountability in interactions.• Challenging the government contract team to move towards an earned autonomy model of operational governance.

Neos is an infrastructure-based connectivity provider created following a private investor’s acquisition of 50% of SSE’s telecommunication division. The business opportunity for Neos was to expand its presence in the B2B connectivity market in the UK as part of the UK’s wider digital investment.• Established a dedicated team of Key Account Directors to deliver the sales strategy.• Developed relationships with anchor clients to transition from a beachhead contract into a multiyear sales pipeline.• Secured circa £14m in total contract value in the first year of operation.• Collaborated with product management, technology, program delivery, procurement, and marketing to develop solutions for key customers and engage them in formal procurement exercises.• Represented Neos in key customer discussions and negotiations.• Monitored sales operations to ensure strong commercial relationships were established with key clients and that strategy was informed by a shared vision of client success.

Eir is a large provider of fixed, broadband, and mobile telecommunications services in Ireland. Open eir is the wholesale division within eir responsible for providing products and services to other service providers who use eir’s infrastructure to compete at a retail level.• Led the commercial planning and delivery of eir’s program to reach 300k premises with full fibre broadband.• Worked with all stakeholders to understand program cost drivers and expected benefits to secure budget approval from the Board. Achieved key program performance indicators including the number of premises passed, cost to pass premises, and on-budget delivery. • Established the program steering committee to set direction, agree on priorities and manage change with key stakeholders across the organisation including design, procurement, construction, and finance and sales.• Monitored program deliverables and proposed improvements to increase confidence in delivery and reduce cost. • Worked with senior executives across the company to achieve contractual milestones and report progress to key external government stakeholders.• Restructured delivery planning process to build greater confidence in investment costs and the timing of when premises would be available for sale by service providers.

Open eir’s traditional business was built on a regulatory obligation to provide access to eir’s infrastructure to other service providers to compete at a retail level. As part of an investment to grow the wholesale share of the broadband market, the business model shifted to adopt a more commercial focus by developing strategic relationships with key service provider partners. I established a managed services team to deliver on that strategic objective.• Recruited and led a team of a dedicated team of business development, technical consultancy, contract management, and service delivery specialists. • Collaborated closely with senior stakeholders within the business to secure support to expand the use of eir’s network assets for use by other retail operators.• Working with the wider senior management team to define and deliver the annual business plan to achieve revenue, margin, and investment targets. • Implemented a B2B business development process that selected prospective customers, bid for business through a competitive tendering process, negotiated contracts, and delivered the contracted programs.• Chaired the business development committee to define and deliver a multi-year opportunity pipeline of bids that were aligned with the strategic priorities of target clients, underpinned with validated investment cases, and compliant with legal and regulatory obligations.• Won and delivered a portfolio of managed services using a number of commercial models including outcome-based contracts, co-owned network investments, professional services, and value-added service agreements. Secured a portfolio of managed service contracts valued in excess of €80m.