On Friday 27 October 2023 Antony Barnes FCT passed away after a brief illness, at the age of 59.
Antony started his career, training to become a Chartered Accountant in what is today Deloitte. He then went on to hold treasury roles in Toyota and Amersham plc. In 2004 he joined GUS plc as Group Treasurer. GUS was running its treasury function from The Netherlands, so Antony and his young family moved to Hilversum in The Netherlands. At that time GUS was going through a strategic review to demerge itself, leading to the birth of Experian as a newly listed company in 2006. Experian decided to base its group treasury function in Dublin, so in April 2007 the Barnes family moved to Ireland.
Over time Antony also took responsibility for tax, pensions and insurance, as Director of Corporate Finance. He and his family moved back to London in 2012.
Antony has always been very generous in giving his time to charities and supporting them with his skills. During his time in Dublin, he helped his church community with the finance of the purchase of a city centre property, and he has long been active in Stewardship, a Christian charity supporting churches and charities with their financial resources.
In recent years at Experian, he had started to work part-time, to allow him to take on more charity roles. These included the Spinal Injuries Association, Hope into Action, and Tearfund.
Remco de Vries: “Antony was a great leader, mentor and friend with an unusual combination of an amazing intellect coupled with incredible kindness and social skills. As the son of a diplomat his communication skills were extraordinary as were his standards in writing and presenting. His diplomatic pedigree also shone when it came to any party: he was very entertaining. Antony was a remarkable person who has touched many hearts during his life and I feel privileged to have been able to work with him for a long time. He has always been a very keen supporter of the treasury profession, and encouraged me to get involved in the Irish ACT.”
Lorraine Keogh: “When I first met Antony in 2008, his charismatic personality and extraordinary intellect were readily apparent. Since then, I learned a great deal about, his love for his family, his zest for life, and his devotion to his work. Antony instilled the highest standards in every aspect of his work and had an impeccable eye for detail, which yielded him many professional accomplishments. He was an inspirational leader and mentor with an infinite wealth of knowledge. But above all else, Antony was incredibly kind and offered his time, support, and guidance in abundance.”
Antony joined the ACT in 1993 and was an active member, sitting on a number of working groups and panels including the Membership Advisory Panel from 2016-2020, the Treasurers’ Forum from 2013-2023, the Events and Publishing Forum from 2005-2008, and then 2013-2017, and was a member of Council from 2014-2017. He was generous with his time and support of the profession and spoke at numerous events , including the ACT Annual Conference, Cash Management conference, Corporate Funding conference and talking treasury. Antony was featured in The Treasurer magazine in July 2005, where he spoke about the importance of following your instincts. He will be missed by his friends and colleagues at the ACT and we would like to thank him for his support and valuable contribution.
He is survived by his wife Caragh and children Sophie, Harry, Archie and Jonathan.