UPS Chief Operating Officer Jim Barber is to retire at the end of the year.

In his role, Barber has been working on UPS small package, supply chain, freight forwarding and global engineering businesses. He has been at the company for 35 years, joining it in 1985 as a delivery driver.

“We deeply appreciate Jim’s many contributions to UPS,” said David Abney, UPS Chairman and CEO. “He guided our International teams to strong growth and performance for successive years, even when market conditions were challenging.  More recently he built a strong team and helped them implement plans for improved performance in our Domestic and Supply Chain segments, as shown in our operating results.”


As COO, Barber has helped lead UPS international growth in mature and emerging Asian and European markets. Lately he has been working on investing in opportunities for South-to-South trade on the Indian subcontinent, Africa and the Middle East. When not at UPS he is on the Board of UNICEF USA, working on humanitarian aid and community development. 


“UPS has such great growth opportunities, a fantastic management team, along with a solid strategy to go forward for even more success,” said Barber.  “I’m proud of the UPS team and honoured to have been a part of some great steps forward in the evolution of the company abroad and here in the U.S.”