Herbert M. Barber, Jr., Ph.D.   
President & Chief Executive Officer 

Biography  
Herbert M. Barber, Jr., Ph.D., currently serves as the President & C.E.O. of hb technologies, inc. Dr. Barber has 22 years of experience in engineering and construction. Prior to founding hb technologies, inc., he worked on large industrial projects in the $500 million range for companies such as Procter & Gamble Corporation, GAF, International Paper Company, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Rayonier Performance Fibers, Weyerhaeuser Corporation, ConAgra, Gold Kist, Archer Daniels Midland, and Occidental Corporation. To date, Dr. Barber has engineered and managed over $2 billion worth of construction.

Dr. Barber’s sense of entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic can be traced back to age seven when he was first introduced to work by his parents. He started with a small push-lawnmower and charged five dollars a yard, long before the term “landscaping” was coined. As word traveled that he performed “landscaping” and charged a fair price, he quickly had more work to complete than he had originally envisioned. He continued that business until he eventually began working for a land surveying firm while in college.

Dr. Barber began his professional career in the engineering and construction industry as a field engineer for Guy F. Atkinson Company on a $100 million cable-stayed bridge over the Savannah River, connecting Georgia and South Carolina. With the background he had acquired in land surveying while financially supporting himself through college, he was responsible for the vertical and horizontal alignment of two 475 ft main concrete towers and their associated concrete bridge decking, intermediate lateral supports, pile foundations, and numerous other highway piers and foundations.

With the completion of that project, Dr. Barber began working as a project engineer and project manager on large industrial construction projects in the southeastern United States, with his first industrial project being a small $18 Million chemical plant expansion project outside of Atlanta, Georgia. From that, he managed the construction of numerous industrial construction projects for multiple paper mill companies, working for CRS Sirrine Engineers & Contractors, the largest paper mill contractor in the world, and Fluor Corporation, the largest engineering and construction firm in the United States. 

Dr. Barber’s projects included buildings, warehouses, recovery boilers, tissue, towel and kraft paper machines, and various chemical processing systems. As an example of his earlier work, on many of his projects his responsibilities included structural engineering calculations, engineered crane lifting operations and engineered helicopter lifting operations using Sikorsky S-64 Skycranes, the largest helicopters allowed by the FAA in US air space. During lifting operations, he was responsible for approximately $1.5 million worth of construction per day. He was responsible for cost estimating, project scheduling, and staff and craft supervision, management, and leadership on any given project. His projects ranged in size from $5 million to over $500 million. 

While with Fluor Corporation, Dr. Barber received the Most Valuable Player award for his leadership during a project for Procter & Gamble. He was selected from over 2,000 engineering and construction employees on the project. 

Currently Dr. Barber provides senior leadership for hb technologies, inc., a design/build construction firm that works exclusively with churches that are building. At hb technologies, inc., he leads a staff of 6 professional employees and 25-35 craft employees. His primary responsibility is to lead the business development efforts for the firm. Dr. Barber has prepared and delivered thousands of presentations to clients and potential clients. 

Augmenting his professional experience in the construction industry, Dr. Barber teaches undergraduate courses in the construction management program in the College of Science & Technology at Georgia Southern University. Though he has taught courses such as structural analysis, steel structures, wood structures, and construction planning and scheduling, his courses at Georgia Southern University typically focus on project administration as it relates to construction leadership. Dr. Barber also teaches in the doctoral program in construction management in the College of Technology at Indiana State University. The courses he teaches at Indiana State University focus on the contractual relationships between contractors, owners, subcontractors, and suppliers, with a primary emphasis on engineering and construction contract law.

Dr. Barber is considered an expert in the field of construction leadership, and subsequently, he has served on numerous occasions as an expert witness on civil suits involving construction management. In addition to providing senior leadership for hb technologies, inc., Dr. Barber has developed and conducted hundreds of seminars and presentations regarding construction project leadership. He gives presentations weekly to churches regarding their building programs, and he speaks regularly at building conferences sponsored by various Christian organizations.

He is a current and past member of several professional organizations, including the National Association of Industrial Technology, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Vocational Education Research Association, the National Home Builder’s Association, and the American Society of Training & Development. He is a Senior Industrial Technologist with the National Association of Industrial Technology, where he also serves as the Chair of Construction Research.  He holds licenses, by exam, in general construction contracting in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. 

Dr. Barber has a B.S. in civil engineering technology and an M.T. in industrial management, with a research concentration in construction management, from Georgia Southern University. He received an Ed.S. in industrial technology, with an emphasis in industrial training, and an earned Ph.D. in industrial technology, with a research concentration in construction performance from The Florida State University. Additionally, Dr. Barber is currently completing an Executive M.B.A. at the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, ranked the #1 EMBA program in the U.S. for over 15 years.