James R. Barker is an American shipping businessman who is the chairman of the Interlake Steamship Company and SeaStreak.^[1] He was also a management consultant who co-founded Temple, Barker & Sloane, which formed the global consulting firm Oliver Wyman.^[2] He is the namesake of the bulk container MV James R. Barker.^[3]

Barker grew up spending summers with his uncle, a boat captain in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and worked on ships doing the Great Lakes trade.^[4] Barker graduated from Columbia College in 1957 and became a coast guard officer. He then graduated from Harvard Business School, and worked for Pickands Mather & Co., a raw materials production and shipping company.^[4]

Barker later joined Harbridge House, a consulting firm as a transportation scientist. In January 1970, he formed shipping consultancy Temple, Barker & Sloane with Carl Sloane and Peter Temple and was hired by Moore-McCormack to tackle its business problems.^[5] In 1971, he became chairman and CEO of Moore-McCormack, becoming then the youngest CEO of a major American corporation at 35 years old.^[6][7] In 1973, he led the purchase of the Pickands Mather Group.^[8] Barker served in his chief executive role until 1988, when he acquired the company's cargo shipping operations.^[9]

He has served as chairman of the Interlake Steamship Company since he acquired the subsidiary from McCormack in 1987.^[10][9] He served as a director of Verizon and its predecessor, GTE from 1976 to 2007.^[1][11] He was also a former Chairman of the National Maritime Council and a director of the American Bureau of Shipping.^[12][13]