Paul Barber joined the board of Brighton & Hove Albion FC as Chief Executive in June 2012. He was appointed Deputy Chairman in November 2018.
Prior to joining Brighton, Paul was the first British football executive to lead a club in to Major League Soccer when Vancouver Whitecaps FC entered the league in March 2011. Paul made the move to North America after over half a decade at Tottenham Hotspur FC, where he was the club’s Executive Director. Previously, Paul occupied several senior commercial, marketing and communications roles at The Football Association.
In addition to over 25 years working in professional football, Paul spent more than a decade in senior positions with major international companies such as Barclays Bank, where he was a member of the retail board, Inchcape, the international motor distribution group, and Ogilvy & Mather, the US-based advertising and communications group, where he was Chief Executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Paul is the non-executive chair of charity Football Beyond Borders which uses football to work with young people from areas of socio-economic disadvantage who are disengaged at school, and has been a non-executive director of Women in Football since 2020. Paul has served as a member of The FA Council and Professional Game Board since 2018, and sits on various Premier League and Football Association committees.
Paul was made an OBE in HM The King’s first New Year’s Honour’s List in 2023 for services to football, and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sussex in the same year. Paul was named Chief Executive of the Year at The Football Business Awards in 2013 and 2023, and European Sports Executive at the Stadium Business Awards in 2016. Paul is a guest lecturer for FIFA’s Diploma in Club Management, and for the PFA Business School.