Meet the Team: John Barker

October 6, 2023

Meet our President and Managing Partner, John Barker, Jr., SIOR. John grew up in the small town of Shelby, NC. John is married to Rowena, and together, they have three children: Kruesi (27), Jack (25), and Crocker (24). John attended high school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at The Baylor School. John attended Appalachian State University after high school graduation and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. While attending Appalachian, John became a brother of the Kappa Alpha Order and served on the executive committee.

John’s first job outside of school was selling pharmaceuticals. It wasn’t until shortly after that he inevitably joined up with his father and got involved with real estate. He learned the industry from working under his father at John Barker Realty and followed in his footsteps by becoming a broker before switching to the development side. John was a founder of Red Rock Developments when it began in 2007 and has remained with the company to this day.

As President and Chief Development Officer, John’s primary focus at Red Rock is procuring and overseeing development projects for industrial, office, and retail properties and speculative developments in strategic locations. John’s wealth of knowledge in industrial park development, speculative development, single-tenant build-to-suit net leases, and sale/leasebacks allows him to be involved in a project from conception to completion. Over his career, John has completed millions of square feet of development-related projects, from build-to-suit and sale/leasebacks to construction programs and project management.

John is very active in the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) and has held numerous regional and national leadership positions. His father and sister are also members of SIOR.

John loves spending time outside when he is not in the office. In the winter, there is nowhere he would rather be than on the ski slopes, carving some big GS turns! John has always loved the outdoors and has spent much time doing many activities, such as backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, hunting, and fly fishing. Some people may have yet to learn that John found his love for the outdoors in scouting, where he eventually was awarded the most prestigious honor in scouting, the Eagle Scout Award.

The most important aspect of John’s life is his faith. He tries to put God first every day in all facets of life. If you know John, you know he loves to start and finish every meeting with a prayer. John has always been active in numerous Christian organizations such as Young Life, Kairos Prison Ministry, Holy Angels, and his church.

John is one of the hardest working people in the entire industry and we are so blessed to have him on our team. He runs 100mph every day for his company and for that we are thankful. Thank you, John, for allowing us to share some of our favorite things about you.