Sir Michael Barber is an expert partner in McKinsey and Company’s Global Public Sector Practice and head of its Global Education Practice. He has been working on major challenges of performance, organisation and reform in government and the public services, especially education, in the USA and other countries.

Prior to joining McKinsey he was chief adviser on delivery to Tony Blair, responsible for the oversight of implementation of the Prime Minister’s priority programmes in health, education, transport, policing, the criminal justice system and asylum/immigration.

His book about this experience – Instruction to Deliver: Fighting to Reform Britain’s Public Services (Methuen 2008) – was described by the Financial Times as 'one of the best books about British Government for many years'.

Between 1997 and 2001, Michael Barber was chief adviser to the Secretary of State for Education on School Standards. Prior to joining government he was a professor at the Institute of Education, University of London.

His other major publications include The Learning Game: Arguments for an Education Revolution (Indigo 1997), How to do the Impossible: A Guide for Politicians with a Passion for Education (Institute of Education, London 1997), The Virtue of Accountability (Boston University 2005) and Impossible and Necessary: Are you ready for this? (NESTA, June 2009).