Kate Barker

Background

About Kate Barker

Kate Barker is passionate about leadership and mentoring. With over 25 years in leadership roles in various industries, Kate has built a strong leadership skillset. Each role has shaped how she views leadership and has lead her to explore models of positive and inclusive leadership. Since 2017, Kate has served in several roles at the University of Michigan Shared Services Center, most recently being her current position, Customer & Staff Experience Manager. Kate's passion and focus are on helping to drive organizational strategy, and helping staff learn, grow their skills and excel at their work. Kate began her career at Whole Foods Market, where she discovered a passion for the local food movement. From there, Kate moved to various roles at Local Orbit and ended as the Product Manager, helping customers grow and strengthen their local food systems through the use of technology. Kate also holds a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of Oregon and has been teaching photography (digital, darkroom and the history of photography) at Washtenaw Community College since 2005. Kate says about photography “I am attracted to the medium of photography because of the immediacy of the process. I enjoy composing the image in my head, finding it out in the world and capturing it on film. Quite often I end up with something other than I intended. These little surprises and accidents are one of the things that keep me fascinated with photography. “