National Blood Authority Board

Mr Ken Barker

In July 2009, Mr Barker retired from full-time employment as Chief Financial Officer with New South Wales Health. In that position Mr Barker was responsible for controlling and monitoring recurrent expenditure and revenue, establishing New South Wales Health’s financial management policy and strategy, and overseeing the business management services involving insurance, risk management, taxation, benchmarking of public hospital support services and independent financial review of public and private sector initiatives.

Mr Barker worked for New South Wales Health for 24 years and had some 42 years of experience in the New South Wales Government. He is now director of his own company, which specialises in financial management and strategic advice, mainly to government agencies. He is also a member of a number of state government governance boards and of several New South Wales agency audit and risk committees.

In relation to Australia’s Blood Service, Mr Barker has been involved from the government financial perspective in the former New South Wales Blood Transfusion Service, nationalisation and establishment of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, establishing national indemnity arrangements for blood and blood products, providing input into defending claims for blood-acquired HIV in New South Wales, providing input into the Stephen Review of the Australian Blood Banking and Plasma Product Sector, establishing the National Blood Authority, and the 2008 KPMG business study of the Blood Service.

Mr Barker was appointed to the NBA Interim Board and has served as a full Board member since the inception of the NBA.  He served as Chair of the NBA Audit Committee from 2003 to 2007.