Chris Barker

Chris Barker is a veteran of the global technology and transportation industry with more than 20 years of experience. He is the founder of the technology and transportation consulting firm CBC, where he has worked with industry companies, cities and governments around the world to advance new forms of mobility, energy services and city development projects. Barker is currently a transportation/smart cities advisor for the Cities Today Institute, helping cities worldwide with transportation infrastructure and autonomous surface transportation planning. In 2016, Barker was an advisor to Vulcan on the USDOT Smart City Challenge project and had continued to advance smart city/transportation development projects across the globe. His CBC team has also developed and deployed self-driving car simulators for state DOTs/DMVs, universities, museums and other public facilities – to teach the public about self-driving vehicles.

Barker was previously the vice president of New Mobility at Keolis, helping introduce new transportation options to cities and communities across North America. Keolis provides heavy rail, light-rail, bus, autonomous shuttles and taxis, car share, bike share and sky tram service to 26 countries, moving 3.5 billion people a year. Barker helped launch the first autonomous/electric shuttle operations on open roads in North America – in downtown Las Vegas and Montreal. He’s also played a lead role in helping multiple US cities migrate their transit systems to electrified transit fleets with electric bus conversions in Southern California, Nevada, and South Carolina.

Prior to Keolis, Barker held senior business leadership positions with multiple Fortune 50 companies. He served as the Global Director of Business Development and Communications for Honeywell Aerospace, Head of Public Sector Business Development, Communications and Marketing at Cisco, and Senior Executive Manager for the Office of the President at Boeing. He’s also been a VP/SVP of business development and marketing for Text 100 Communications and Waggener Edstrom Worldwide.

Barker is a National Board Member for the Association for Commuter Transportation. He’s also a global keynote speaker on topics ranging from smart cities and new mobility services to cybersecurity, alternative energy options, and advancements in artificial intelligence. He’s previously been a featured speaker at CES (Las Vegas), SXSW (Austin), RSA (San Francisco), CE Week (New York), A-Bace (Shanghai), and IAA (Frankfurt).